Hello everybody. >> Sorry. >> I'd like to call to order the Madison Common Council Executive Committee meeting of December 9th, 2025. >> Staff, could you please call the role? I'll be up here. >> President Vidder >> here. >> Vice President Goender Rajin >> here. >> Alder Ugare >> here. >> Oh, I'm not doing the thing. President Vidder is here. Vice President Goender Rajin is here. Alder Ugar is here. Alder Madison >> here. >> Alder Madison is here. Alder Matthews. >> Alder Matthews. >> Sorry. Here. Alder Matthews is here. Alder Lankella >> here. >> Alder Lan Kella is here. Alder Tishler, >> I'm here. >> Alder Tishler is here. Alder Figuro Cole >> here. >> Alder Figuro Cole is here. And we have quorum. >> Wonderful. Next on the agenda is the approval of the minutes from October 28th, 2025. May I have a motion on the minutes? >> Second. >> Thank you. Is there any discussion? Is there any objection to recording a unanimous vote in favor of the minutes? Seeing no objection, we will record a unanimous vote to approve the minutes from October 28th. Next on the agenda is public comment. Do we have any registrance? >> We do not. >> Excellent. Uh, next is disclosures and recusals. Um, members of the body should make any required disclosures or recusals under the city's ethics code. Are there any disclosures or recusals? Seeing none, let's move on to the agenda. Uh, first item is the state lobbying update by the Welch Group. >> Oops. I'm sorry. >> Oh, sorry. Perfect. Uh, I know my family's kneede in preparations for Christmas and the upcoming holidays. So, hope all of your families are doing well. Um, just to give you I'll I'll try to make this as quick. I know you guys have a busy uh agenda, but I'll try to make this as brief as I can. Um, so right now going on in the state capital, uh, it's December, so lawmakers have broken uh after the Thanksgiving or before the Thanksgiving holiday, they broke for uh session until uh it picks up again in January. Uh there is some activity going on in the capital with uh some hearings and some execs, a lot of bills being introduced. We were just talking about this before the meeting started about how uh lawmakers tend to unfortunately sometimes wait till the last minute. You have, you know, 14 15 months in order to get things across the finish line and often they wait until the last two or three to to try to get things through. Um doesn't always work well. So, it's always uh better if we if they start working on this stuff earlier, but um it's been a really, as I've talked to you folks about uh before, it's been a really slow session. Uh to date, um I think we have only 82 bills have been signed into law. Uh so far, uh that's out of hundreds that have been introduced. Uh I haven't seen the last count, but uh it's at least 6 7 800 bills that have been introduced. probably a little bit more than that. Um so it's a a very very light session as far as actual uh things getting signed into law. Um obviously earlier this year uh uh this summer the budget was signed. Big win for us on the mun municipal services payment. We've talked about that in the past. Uh right now um I handed out the tracker uh to everybody and I hope uh everybody that's virtual has seen uh a version of this just to give you an idea of the breath of bills that were we're following or opposing or we're supporting. Um most of those are still in the process. Um so the the housing package I know we were very interested in. I'll just give you a brief rundown on where those things are at. AB94 was the WEDA bill that was to uh correct uh a program that was put in place in the last session that had over $500 million worth of incentives to help uh spur housing developments. Uh the big problem uh that developers were running into is under the uh law that was passed, they couldn't stack incentives. So without being able to stack incentives, it didn't pencil out for them. So nobody was really taking advantage of that funding. Uh both uh committees in both houses have passed this. I believe it will pass the assembly. Uh the Senate is uh kind of an issue on this one. Uh that's going to become a familiar refrain as we move forward that the Senate is kind of the problem on some of this stuff. uh getting actually across the finish line. Uh so we supported that bill. Again, it passed both committees, ready for floor action in both houses, but the the Senate the fate in the Senate is somewhat uncertain. Uh AB 182 is changes to the lowinccome uh housing tax credit. Uh we support that as well. Uh that passed both committees and is available for scheduling. AB454 was the workforce home loan program. Uh support that. that also passed both committees uh available for scheduling. Uh AB453 uh that's a bill that we're following on um putting a little bit more regulatory act uh action behind the comprehensive plan. Uh that one passed the assembly and the Senate committee available for scheduling. Um but I haven't seen anything as far as when that might come up. Uh the one bill AB452 uh that was on plat approvals and self-certification of infrastructure. Uh we supported that bill that passed both houses and it was signed into law today. So hey, we got we got one so far. That's more than what a lot of people outside the building can say at this point. Um then we had some uh local government bills. Uh AB483 was a wheel tax referenda. We oppose that. That did pass the assembly committee. It hasn't gotten uh through the Senate committee yet. I assume that that probably will find its way to the floor, at least in the assembly, if not the Senate. Um very comfortable that the the governor would veto that bill if it got to him. uh AB424, the rental of mobile homes and ma uh regulating the rental of mobile and manufactured homes. Uh we supported that. That was also signed in law today. Uh and then AB27 on bidding thresholds. It passed the assembly committee, passed the Senate committee. Um in the Senate, I have to figure out what's going on because it was it was passed available for scheduling and it was referred to the committee on org. Um, so I got to figure out why that uh why that's the case. Uh, 8165 was a bill that uh um prohibited local guaranteed income programs. Uh, we opposed that. The governor vetoed it uh I believe on Friday. Uh, and then AB211 uh we were following which was uh the bill to allow for more cigar bars. Um that was an interesting one because that had it had bipartisan support uh I believe in both houses. Uh but the governor vetoed that on Friday as well. So again really light 82 bills signed uh into law to date um just not a whole lot of bipartisan action going on unfortunately. Uh as we look ahead to the to the few remaining months in the legislature um again December they're on break. They'll come back in January. I expect that the Assembly will be a little bit more active than the Senate. They'll be in a couple of days at least in January, probably a couple days in February. End of February they'll gave out and go home for elections. Uh the Senate is more than likely what we're hearing is they'll do one day in January, one day in February, and then kind of a catchall day at the end uh sometime in March. Uh, so the Senate always kind of goes into March and then they end up being the body that uh either gets things across the finish line or doesn't depending on what they do that day. Um, and then as we all know, Wisconsin's kind of battleground central for elections. So, we're going to have another another long election year next year. Uh obviously on the the Republican side, there's two candidates, Josh Schman, who's county exec uh up in Washington County and uh Tom Tiffany, congressman from the Northwoods. And then the Dem side, there's too many to keep track of. I don't I don't even know to date who's running, but obviously the uh the biggest name that got into the race recently is um Mandela Barnes. Uh, I expect I didn't see if Joel Brennan got in yet, but we're expecting that news any time now. Um, so it it'll set up a real I mean that's a that's a diverse group of of folks and it's going to set up a very interesting primary on the Dem side. Um, you know, the biggest thing that they're going to have to combat or at least be cognizant of is with that big of a field, how far to one side are are the candidates dragged prior to the primary? Um, and does that hurt them come general? Um, so it's going to be a fascinating year to watch. There's obviously going to be a lot of money uh spent in this race. I know Mandela Barnes was saying he'd he thinks he'd need to raise almost 50 million. Uh Tom Tiffany was saying somewhere between 30 and 40. Um I expect whoever comes out of the Republican and Dem side that's probably going to be pretty close to what the number is. Uh which is on its own it's a little scary uh that we're spending this much. Um you know we've we've seen this over and over again in Wisconsin with Supreme Court races and state legislative races. I mean, when you know, when a state legislative race for an assembly candidate that represents about $60,000 people has more than $2 million in spending, you know, when you take both sides into account and third party groups, something's wrong, right? And it's uh it's becoming more of more of a problem and these outside entities are having more and more of an influence. Um, so as we as we get to the uh, you know, we'll continue to push on our priorities between now and uh, March when the legislature gles out. Um, you know, on the housing bills specifically, I should mention that on the Senate side, uh, there's more there seems to be more of a concern with the bills that provide financial incentives. uh there's a philosophical issue with some two members on the on the Republican side that just don't believe in that. So, uh I think at some point in order to get these bills passed, uh Senator Leah Hugh will have to make the decision on whether he gets rule gets rid of the rule of 17 and just allows the bills to come to a vote. Uh which I'm hopeful for for wide variety of different reasons. There's a lot of good legislation out there that's uh being held up by one or two members. Um and it's it's not real great for our state. Uh and then just wanted to follow up on our lobby day that we did in September. Was that? >> Mhm. >> Okay. Time flies. Um but we we met with our uh group of elders came over. Appreciate everybody that took the time out of their day to do that. Uh, I thought it was very productive just being able I mean more so than anything else is to either develop or continue to develop relationships with our especially our area lawmakers. Really important I think not only for them but probably for you guys as well, you know, to have that uh good relationship with your with your state elected officials. Um would like to uh plan another one in January. Uh so if we can get another crew of people that has some time, uh you know, like the third Wednesday of the month, something like that, when the legislature is going to be in session that week, but typically not on Wednesdays, might provide us another opportunity to put new faces in front of uh in front of lawmakers. Um, so hopefully we can continue to do that because I think I truly believe I we we can be your eyes and ears on the ground in the capital and we can we can be a big help, but you guys are the best salesman to your local elected officials. Uh, you guys having that relationship, talking to them about the impacts of their policy decisions on the city, on your districts, there's nothing more valuable than that. So, uh, we'll look to set something up with, uh, like that with with, uh, whoever is available, uh, and continue to have those conversations about things that are kind of left on our, uh, list of priorities that we want to get done before the end of session. So, with that, any questions? >> Can I have two quick plugs? Yeah. That may answer some questions. Um, sorry, I'll get to the mic so people can hear. Um, just in case these are things that come up, uh, I hand it out to folks who are here. Sorry, environment. Um, but I already had this paper printed out, so it was no new trees. Mayor, if you're watching, um, and, uh, for folks online, I think you got an electronic version. This is what we call leave behind. This is what we literally left behind at the legislative offices. So, it gives you a little bit of a sense of of the level at which we're discussing things. If you look at the back of it, it has a very condensed version of the our legislative agenda. I was going to put in quotes, but it is our legislative agenda. It's just these are top priorities as you see from the tracker Jim handed out. We are following a huge range of things that impact local government, but these are the top things we're advocating for. Um, so take a take a look, you know, review it and if there are items that you feel are you have questions about or that you feel are missing and would like to be added, understanding that not everything is going to make sense as a priority because it's not allowed or it's not feasible or it's not, you know, doesn't rise to a level of that, please get in touch with our office or with leadership or with Jim or even better yet all three of us. Um, and just on the legislative lobby day, we'll send out an email about scheduling that. Right now, we're thinking it'll be the second half of January, that's probably the best time to get folks. So, maybe third week of January. Um, and typically a kind of middle of the week, so like a Wednesday when folks are not on the floor, that is to say, legislators are not in floor session, but uh are relatively likely to be in the building. I'm looking at our colleague who works in the building and hoping that they have a sense of when people will be around. So, we'll try to make sure that folks are around. I think as Jim said, it'd be nice to get some a different set of folks who maybe weren't part of the first lobby day. Um, so hopefully some people are available. Um, but again, let us know or let leadership know and Karen or all of us um if you're interested in that. >> And so, obviously, we'll be watching the elections carefully and what happens in in November of 2026. Uh, you know, there's there's a lot of sentiment that the the Senate is likely to flip. Uh, governor, I would probably give the advantage to a Dem candidate coming out. The Assembly, we're just not sure of. Uh, it depends if there's a big blue wave. The assembly could flip as well. I think that's less likely. Um, so one of the things that we have to work on and we have to be cognizant of is what happens in a scenario where it's Dem Senate, Republican Assembly, Dem Governor. Um, you know, we might get the impression that it's way easier to get our stuff done. Uh, but it's also easier to kind of get screwed on some stuff, right? because you've got if you've got Democrats and Republicans negotiating each side getting a little bit of something, we just have to be careful that whoever we don't have bad stuff happen to us in exchange for things that might help us marginally. Uh so that's one of the things that we'll be looking at going forward as well. >> Any questions? Alder O'Brien. >> I didn't I didn't. >> Well, now you got to come up with a question. >> Okay. >> Right. Nobody. Wow. You guys were easy. >> All right. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. >> All right. We're going to move on to item three, uh, legis 90754, repealing section 33.28 28 of the Madison general ordinances related to the city county schools collaborative committee and I am not sure if if deputy mayor BL is going to be talking to us I can >> I I am on video and I'm happy to do so if if that would be helpful >> I think so >> um well I can I can share that this this goes back to a presentation I gave at CCEC maybe 2 to 3 months ago and really goes back to a process that's about a year old at the common council where we were looking at a number of committees um and and whether we could reduce some or combine some for a variety of reasons. And at the time we passed an ordinance, this was in March of 2025, an ordinance that was making changes to a number of committees and a resolution directing staff to look at a few more closely. And this was one of those um committees that was in the resolution that we were asked to look at more closely. Specifically, we were asked to look at whether um the staff management of this should change from being in the city's ownership or with the school district's ownership. When that was brought up at the city county schools collaborative committee, the conversation morphed a little. It morphed into something bigger. So the question of who should own it, who should staff it was investigated. It was investigated with the school district. It was not something that they were they felt they had the means to take on at the time. But it it generated a larger question of what's the scope, what's the work plan, what's the purpose, is this a committee that is um that that should remain um as an operating committee. Recognizing that while there are issues that merit collaboration, most of those collaborations happen in a number of other forums and um there's a lot of redundancy with work that um happens in other committees as well depending on what the issue or topic is that's identified. After a lot of discussion and thought, the co-chairs of that committee put out a uh letter to the elected bodies of the county, the city, and the school district saying that they would recommend that they dissolve unless by some date certain that was given. um uh members of these bodies came to them with a desire for them to work on something concrete that felt within their scope and that they would be willing to put resources towards. They did not get a response to that. Nobody came forward with anything um that they would suggest that they work on. And so the co-chairs followed up saying given that they would recommend that they dissolve. So this is coming back to the body to essentially implement that to essentially repeal the section of code that created the city county schools collaborative committee and I'm happy to take any questions. >> Thank you. Do we have any questions or discussion on this item? Uh Alder given. >> Thank you. Um Christie, I surprisingly in this past week had a school board member come up to me being like, "Hey, we have this issue. Um is there a way for the schools to work with the city to collaborate on these whatever issue that was?" To which I said, "I have no idea. I don't have a school anywhere near my district." So, um what are the other opportunities for these school board members to maybe address these issues if it works with the city in some way? I think well I guess one of the ways this happens is related to just um executive staff team. So I think the city the city the county the school um school leadership all do meet and collaborate that way and I think um issue by issue there may be collaborations between members of the legislative bodies. Um I think when it came to issues identified, they would say something for example of we have an issue related to transportation and we would recognize that ultimately the body in which we would work on that would be the transportation commission or there might be an issue related to um homelessness but al ultimately that would go into the city county housing um the homelessness committee. Um, so I I think there are a number of ways that the that individuals or the entities at large do coordinate. I think it varies a little depending on what the topic is. Um, but but um we do find other other ways that we can coordinate around particular issues. >> Okay, perfect. Thank you so much. >> Mhm. >> Alder Madison. Uh, thank you. So I served on that committee and was part of that discussion with um the deputy mayor and the deputy mayor is absolutely spot on. But the other thing I want to say too, I believe that there were quorum issues also with that group and when I was part of the discussion um going to back to what um MGR asked about is there was a question about like you know working on these when things come up what do we do about it but we were already sort of solving things like when I am chatting about students who are homeless up at the motel I just immediately go to um some folks who serve on the Samberg NRT to talk about those issues. So, it almost seems like the committee in in of itself was outdated to a degree because folks have figured out how to work across city, county, and school agencies without necessarily what I did not see was issues that we were having across our districts were coming to that committee to discuss and solve. So, that's my two cents. >> Thank you, Alder Madison. Alder Harrington McKini. >> Thank you very much. And I apologize um because I just joined, but um I do have a question of the deputy mayor. And so I'm going to be very specific because um this is an incident that um landed right in my district. And um we had a group of uh of uh of students who were walking to school. And so there's like a 1.5 mile uh radius condition, but they were walking to school and they called it the walking school bus. The problem with it it was was that mostly black and brown kids. The problem was they were walking down walking down Shoulder, which is a very dangerous street. And the problem is is they had to do that in the winter time. And now um and so what I'm leading to is is that there was a decision about putting those kids on a school bus and um uh and I and my my challenge is is that where is the communication link and the communication breakdown? because I heard it that it had happened, but as the alder of the district and initiating this conversation with the school board, I did not get that feedback. And so I just need to know a direction and if this is dissolved, where is the link that when we have problems and we put those problems out to get that feedback that it is still ongoing or it is resolved. And so that's something I'd like for you to speak to. I'm complete. >> Okay. Thank you. Um I'm not I can't say that I'm an expert on that particular issue. Um I think there is room for all of our entities to maybe identify what communications would would be useful between um MMSD and alders of the district. I think we might be able to find ways to raise that and identify good communication channels for that. Um I'm not sure if the committee was play to my knowledge I don't think that the committee was playing that function to begin with. If it was that's that's not something I heard of. So I'm not sure that the dissolution of this committee would would um have an impact on that or or create a loss there. But I think as as a separate issue that we can look up and see if we I I think outside of the scope of this committee, we could look into whether um we have as thorough a communication lines between the entities as would be useful. >> Okay. The follow-up question is is that as a recommendation for resolution it and I think I heard you say that uh the ongoing discussion is finding what that link is. Is that something that came up to for discussion like who do who do we go to if we have a question like I had a challenge with uh my walking school bus with the dis uh I would have thought that that is where I would go with the the city and the school board. So if that's dissolved and uh where would that linkage be and is that still being worked on? I think that that would probably be something to take straight to the school district or to the school board. Um, but maybe we can identify ways to identify some key contacts that would be helpful or some some auto communications to make sure that alders are of the districts are linked into. >> Thank you. >> I'll talk offline uh more about this. I don't want to hold the discussion, but that definitely is something that concerns me. Um, and to find out what that linkage is so that there is feedback information to make sure that we're all informed and um, I'm complete. Thank you. >> Thank you. And I'll just add that maybe this is an opportunity for um alder onboarding um since each school board member does have specific schools that are like in their portfolio. Um and so making sure that each alder knows who the school board member is that represents the schools that are in their district. Um that doesn't seem to be common knowledge. I've had that conversation with um residents myself. So um that might be an opportunity to improve our alder onboarding. Uh, Alder Figuro Cole, >> thank you. I have a question and a comment. So, the question um Christie is is this committee uh does this committee has a um a copy of it at the county site? >> No, this is a joint this is Oh, you're saying is the legislation exist at the county side? Um I I >> this is a city county school um committee, but it's it's kind of owned and housed at the city. So there's not a there's not a counterpart ordinance at the county and at the school district if that's what you're asking. >> Yeah. Well, that's what I was asking. Thank you. Um thanks. That was the question. And then uh as to to com to add to the answers regarding um MGR's and uh Alder McKini's um questions also um another way another way that the school system the school group is in interacts with the city we have representation they have representation at plan commission they also have representation on transportation commission so they can go to any committee but there's there's these mayor committees where they have a seat research just for them and Then on regards to anything related to um to parking, traffic, whatever, you know, all that all those safety matters associated to school, the there's an actual community that exists. Well, it's not a community. It's a it's a at hog group or something. I don't want to call I don't know what to call it but it's a group of um people that have representation from the school district a safety a safety group that has representation from the school district as well as representation from from engineering and transportation and I um they meet regularly to address issues um like the one the ones that Al McKini was discussing I have had a few issues on my district and they have been very helpful um it's not um it's not something that is posted or anything like that, but for whenever I was out out of town, there was an issue and they had a meeting when I was out of town. So, they actually were very gracious to to invite me to the meeting so I can present the issue directly and then hear from them directly on what their perspective was. So, there's a safety a public a school safety committee that that involves Madison staff in it that I can definitely put you guys in contact with if you need that information. So there's a lot of ways that the school is already interacting um with the city. I think it is um very accurate to say what u Madison was saying that they have figured out other ways to get to get to the solutions that they need. Thank you. >> Thank you, Alder Madison. >> Thank you. Um I just want to let me put this down before I forget. um to Alder Harrington McKenny's thoughts, I do want to just give a couple examples that might may or may not be helpful for uh your district and any other folks as a district, but um before we had the Sanberg neighborhood NRT, I just partnered really and worked with the school really closely. So I do think at least you know folks connecting with the schools directly in your district with the principles is really helpful because you can hear where there may be city related issues uh like for example crosswalks in front of Samberg. I figure you know that's an issue with transportation or you know uh traffic engineering rather and I was able to work with Yang and the school to to problem solve it. And then for Hawthorne, which is in district 12, uh, Alder Matthews and I met with, uh, city staff and school staff, I think, and, um, school board members. So, I do think it's important for all the auditors to at least form a communicating, you know, communication relationship with the immediate schools in your district and the school boards and then know which city agency connects directly to the issue if it's a city kind of thing to be worked on, for example. But that's my two cents again and my last two cents because I need to eat. >> Thank you. Uh Alder Figer Cole, is your hand still up from before or do you have more? >> I'm driving. Sorry. Can you can you turn it down? Thank you. >> And Alder Harrington McKenna, same question for you. Is your hand up from before or you have another question? >> Question. And um thank you Alder um uh Madison. And um I took all of those issues, you know, I knew who to go to and all that. No, I had to determine where to go to and the um I went to the school board. I went to transportation and so it is being resolved, but it took me going around and through just trying to find out who I should go and have this conversation with. And so the reason that I brought it up is the loop back in terms of that communication. It is being resolved, but that loop back um is not like from I just need to know who the connection will be. I'm not saying uh to continue the committee because I know that they had a quorum issue and I think the deputy mayor said that there might be an opportunity to designate um someone in the school um cuz I you know I talked to the school board and I made a presentation at the school board but if there is a link that would have solved the problem so that when feedback comes or solutions come at least the alder will be a part of those conversations in the future. I hope that that's it sounded clear to me, but it might not be. Yeah, if that was a question for me, I I was really thinking about some of the things that have been mentioned like connecting making sure you have a connection with that school board member for just the sake of the geography and also if there are issues related that you're working on whether it's a project team communication or a newsletter or certain lists you could be on or or or just making sure that they have your contact information and are aware aware that you um want to be informed on certain issues. So, I didn't have any specific person. I I think it's a little topic specific um in terms of who the right people would be, but I but I think there are ways, you know, that I as your colleagues just did, but also perhaps in other conversations, we could make sure that we're aware of what the opportunities are for those feedback mechanisms, whether it's email list serves or um or schoolboard notes or what have you. So there's there's a number of ways that I think can be plugged that you can get plugged into something that um probably doesn't have a bearing on this particular committee or this committee doesn't have a bearing on it. >> Seeing no more questions or discussions, I will entertain a motion. >> Is there a second? >> Yes. What is it? >> Well, it's to adopt the order which repeals the current >> to adopt the ordinance that repeals. Okay. >> All right. So, moved by Alder Geraj and seconded by Alder Lanka. All right. Is there any further discussion? Is there any objection to recording a unanimous vote in favor? Seeing none, that's passed. Uh we will now move to the presentation on the Madison sister city delegation visit to Tapati. I'm going to say it wrong. Tap tap. Okay. To Mexico. Go ahead. >> Thank you. Um I will give a there is no presentation this time. I'll just be speaking and hopefully Alder O'Brien can join in as well later. Um but a couple of us about a month ago were pretty uh honored to go to Tatitlan. Took me a while to learn that as well. um which is our sister city located in the Haliscoco region of uh Mexico. Um about an hour and a half away from Guadalajara if that is familiar to anyone. Um we learned a lot over there uh in Tatitlan and travel to nearby uh towns and localities as well. And I just want to highlight a couple of things that we learned there that I think um hopefully Alder O'Brien and I both took for ourselves and maybe the council can take um as we do our business as well. Uh but the big things were uh a circular economy wherever we went. Uh we learned about how in Totalan they really want to prioritize sustainability in their resources. uh they want to make sure all of the materials are reused, recycled and uh repurposed in any way to minimize waste and ensure that whatever they are making can stay in use for for long as possible. We saw this uh with tequila factories that we were invited to where the tequila comes from blue agave which is a plant and they cut it up, cut uh squeeze it and fertilize it. And every bit of that agave plant, whether it goes back into the farm as fertilizer or gets put somewhere else, every single part is reused or uh put into use in some different way before that plant becomes the tequila that uh they produce in that area which is very famously known. Um other things we learned is about their tourism. That's personally what I took away the most. Uh, Tatlan is a very actively growing uh, tourist area. They put a lot of effort into making sure that they're fairly small town, which is I want to say about half the size of Madison. Um, is thriving in business and economy. Um, and one way that we uh, Alder O'Brien and I saw was they showed us this board game which is think about it as Monopoly essentially except it's Monopoly for Teatlon and it's based off in that city. Um it was completely in Spanish so I don't know what any of it said and have not played it yet. Uh but they they sell it to people they uh bring it around the entire country and it is a form of bringing people into teeton to promote their own local industry and tourism. Uh we also had a meeting with the economic development director along with several business leaders from hotels and the local businesses there. Um and they expressed a lot of interest in working with Madison to find distributors uh for their tequila and other um tequila is a really big industry there to be 100% clear. Um they wanted to find distributors. They wanted to work with destination Madison and I believe the mayor's office is working on connecting the right people for all of that stuff. But it was a great opportunity to kind of work with a city that's very much in its like growing stages of a early economy. um other stuff. Uh I think it it just showed the growing potential uh between Madison and Tetitlon and how these sister city trips have a mutual beneficial relationship because as much as we learned from them u about what they are doing and what we could maybe do better. uh they learned a lot from us as well which I for me personally was very different uh when I look at the Obi-H trip that we took earlier this summer because uh obviously Obi-Han is a little bit more of a developed country and maybe they don't have as much to learn from us as compared to Tetitlan um learned from us. So it was a great experience culturally, economically um to learn about their tourism, what they prioritize, how they use their land um in terms of zoning or whether they don't do zoning. Um but yeah, I've spoken for long enough. I will hand it to Alder O'Brien if he wants to speak. I I want to echo my uh same sentiments of it was an honor to be able to go there and it was a fascinating um way to travel and and get to see folks and and learn about the economy, learn about the arts, learn about the culture um that is there. I think the the biggest takeaway for me was the level of coordination um that they have in between um both the government and the private sector um in between their chamber of commerce and their bars association and their hotels association and how um they're all working uh extremely in coordination um in a way that I think Madison could increase coordination among um to really promote tourism and kind of layer in communication and so that they're not reinventing the wheel and reinventing um systems. It was it was incredible coordination. Um, we also had the the privilege of um uh getting to talk with uh local farmers and um some scientists and some environmental folks um about the region's um agriculture and lakes um and the environment and kind of uh again they really stress the circular economy um and how that important that is to protecting their environment and also u making sure that they're centering environmental justice and um also growing their economy whether it is with tequila or whether it is um with protecting the lakes. We visited a small town called Chapala um which is on the largest lake. It's like four times the size of Lake Wnebago um in Wisconsin. Um but it's facing a lot of the the same runoff problems that our lakes around here are facing. Um and so they were very curious to learn what are we doing, how are we working to protect our lakes and protect our water systems and what does our coordination look like with the county and state. um because they also kind of have a similar thing um there. Uh it was also wonderful to get to go tour the university. um to get to talk with some students and get to see um not only high school students um but also college um and kind of learn about how both that the UW system um is a sister city college or university with um uh TEPA and the the gifts and the trading and the conversation back and forth between the universities and and the exchange there is is quite remarkable um and something I think we should continue um as well as with the um high school and we had a had some wonderful high school guides who um who gave us a a wonderful tour of the campus and um the way that they are teaching English and uh educating the students was was quite fascinating and quite hands-on. So I don't know it was wonderful. >> Thank you. And of course, your discussion about the lakes is quite timely since we're going to have our city lakes discussion next Tuesday at 6 PM that I hope all of you will come to. Um, other discussion or questions. Seeing none, there's nothing to approve on that. That was just a discussion. What? Sorry. >> Sorry. I also just wanted to to touch that we were there um for Day of the Dead and um that was an incredibly beautiful, wonderful way to get to see um how families come together. Um but one of the other things that I want to mention is that the students um of the of the Tapetilon High School um they were so engaged in that celebration in a way that I don't see um Madison students um as engaged. I mean they were I I believe it was a day off and they were all working together on assembling their altars and coming together. they were getting dressed up and painting each other's faces and um sharing meals together and it was like almost every student and it was across the entire city. Um and that was really just a wonderful way to see the the depth and the level of engagement that those students um had and then also how much they wanted to share that um they they wanted us to ask questions. They wanted to invite us into their um you know personal family memories and and tell us about their loved ones um and engage in a very active way in the civic process. Um and and we're very eager that folks from not from that from from not from their area were here and wanting to learn about it. Um, and I think I hope that was very enlightening for myself and I think others um on the the delegation, but I also think it was very enlightening for them. Um, and we have heard that like they wanted to now come to Madison and I I hope that they do and I hope that we can continue to have this um exchange and I hope that um they can bring some of that here. >> All right. Any other discussion? Okay. Seeing none, we will move on to the council office update. All right. A few FYIs here. You can peruse, call your attention to a couple of things. You will be getting some notifications in your Outlook calendars. These are helpful um reminders of the holidays that are designated by ordinance as prohibited meeting days for city committees um and are recommended to not schedule um neighborhood meetings during. So it will give you a little bit of a helping hand I think to when you're scheduling your meetings. We try to keep we try to Debbie tries to alert you to those but this just maybe will helpful pl for planning purposes. There's also I provide a link here. You can find the full list um of the ones also that aren't prohibited but are recommended not to. Um but some of you may be like why is all this coming onto my calendar? So we wanted to make sure you knew what what was going on there. Um, if you still have some um lingering out outstanding um oops expense reimbursement claims, please um check your email. Liz provided um another set of instructions for folks and reminder. So, get those in by tomorrow if there are any still outstanding. Um, just another reminder about the 50piece rule and some links to to very helpful guidance. Um, another reminder, this will keep coming. Um, we'll continue to remind you about the accessibility requirements that are coming into effect, federal accessibility requirements that are coming into effect April 2026. And we will be continuing to ask your help um with uh when you're doing your blogging and other public um communications. I also have some project updates for you. We um are instituting work planning in um individual staff work plans for 2026 and then we are also um finalizing our agency work work plan because we now have annual elections. So that gives us an opportunity to create an annual work plan, a cadence to get ourselves hopefully to give ourselves more of a um head start on on things. And um we also carried out annual employee check-ins with all council staff this month. Just wanted to let you know about that. And there's a link if you're curious about that type of thing. Um there is a new legisar resources and training repository that Liz has brought online with the legisar tips that she's been working on for quite a long time. She's been sending out to committee staff and now there's a they have a home and so she'll be continuing to build that out. You can take a you can you can click there to to review that. um BCC staff training and resources as you know that one of the things that has come up when we're discussing BCC streamlining has been um reviewing and updating um resources for training BCC staff to be able to support their committees and so just wanted there's a little information about all the progress that's being made on that and we're continuing to make progress excuse me attorney Hos and I are the executive sponsors sponsor sponsors, however you want to call it, of this project with Cara Kraitz and Isaac in our office, Isaac Matias in our office and Andy Hopkins kind of um coordinating that, make sure everything is moving along. Um, I also wanted to let you know, um, we've been working on emer the city's been working on emergency preparedness and I attended a a I found incredibly useful multi- agency emergency management crisis tabletop exercise this month. Um, which put people from all different kinds of, you know, all different agencies together. Um, having an opportunity to sort of note down gaps in communications, etc. that I found incredibly valuable. I've got Dylan Broen over here. So, it was very I found it I'm very happy. We've been working on emergency preparedness as you know and safety. So, I was really happy about that. Um I have um the we received the report for the Elder Retreat. I need to send that out to you. I realized I didn't attach it. I will attach it. But there's going to be a presentation at um on the ne at the next CCEC meeting where Abba will come to um talk through the reporting and give some suggestions about next steps. So, and then also if you have ideas for elements you'd like to have me incorporate into the 2026 retreat, please reach out because I am going to start planning that ASAP because I'd like it to happen in May or June. So, um I think that is all I have on here. Yeah. Yes. Any questions for Karen? All right. Seeing none, we'll move on to future agenda items. We have not added any future agenda items and have not gotten to any of the future agenda items that are currently on the list. Uh so the question is is whether folks want to add any more things to the future agenda items list that we have yet to get to. Seeing none. All right then we will move into our final agenda item which is a close session item. When the Common Council Executive Committee considers the following matter, it may go into close session pursuant to W Wisconsin statute 19.851D considering strategy for crime detection or prevention. If the Common Council Executive Committee does go into close session, notice is hereby given pursuant to section 19.852 Wisconsin State Statutes that it may reconvene in open session without waiting 12 hours as specified in the statute. Um, and so the item is security protocols for elected officials and common council meetings. May I have a motion regarding closed session? >> And I believe I need to take a roll call vote. >> Is it required? >> If it's unanimous, it's not just recorded. >> Okay. So, is there any objection to taking unanimous vote to move into close session? Seeing none, we will give our tech staff a moment to get us into close session. We're just waiting for >> recording in progress. >> There we go. >> All right. Uh so we are coming out of closed session in which security protocols for elected officials and common council meetings were discussed. And with that I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. Thank you. >> Any discussion or objection to recording unanimous favor unanimous vote in favor of adjournment? Seeing none, we stand adjourned. Thank you all.