In this week’s meeting, the highlight was the budget hearing and vote to adopt the budget. The environment and community events were also top of mind, with the upcoming Green and Clean day on Saturday, April 29, along with tons of exciting related events.
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Mayor’s Update
- Taste of Madison was a big success with some amazing restaurants participating and a great turnout.
- The Little League and softball parade was a sight to see with many teams represented to start the season.
- EV Expo happened last week, which included Madison being recognized as “Destination Electric” to attract EV owners. Just 4 other communities have this designation.
- Drew Forest update: Both Senator Cory Booker and Rep. Mikie Sherrill included $5M in Federal funding requests each to go support the preservation of the forest. This would have to be approved by Congress, but it’s an important action and show of support.
- At the next Council meeting, Monday the 8th, the Council will appoint someone to serve in Deb Coen’s vacant spot until the general election. Read more about that in the Madison Eagle.
- Council President John Hoover read a proclamation supporting Letter Carriers Food Drive, which has collected 1.82 billion pounds of food throughout its history and then read a surprise proclamation recognizing National Clerks week by acknowledging the many contributions of Liz Osborne and her office in providing important services throughout the borough.
Committee Updates
- Community affairs
- Chamber of Commerce accepting nominations for Extra Mile award for excellent customer service. More Chamber events are on their website.
- Madison Green and Clean coming up April 29 with many vendors and tables where you can learn about environmental actions we can all take. The traditional “May Day” clean up will be happening. According to the website:
The April 29 event will kick off with the annual Borough Arbor Day Celebration at 9:00 am at the Hartley Dodge Memorial Building. The day will feature the traditional Townwide Spring Cleanup. Residents, businesses, organizations, and civic groups will volunteer to clean streets and parks, pick up trash, and spread mulch truckloads. While the cleanup is happening, eco presentations and screenings will take place at the Madison Community Arts Center (10 Kings Road). In the area around the Hartley Dodge Memorial Building, local environmental groups and various vendors will provide information and sell their products. In addition, live music will be provided throughout the day.
- Finance
- Budget hearing and vote to adopt the budget happening during tonight’s meeting. Council member Ehrlich reviewed the process to date which prioritized transparency and gave many opportunities for the public to weigh in and for departments to share their detailed plans.
- Public Works and Engineering
- Bids are opening in May for the Cook Ave parking lot, MRC Pickleball and basketball courts.
- Other improvements coming to Green Ave and the Dodge Field Playground, which all had some funding from the DOT state and community development block grants.
- Arbor Day festivities were highlighted and residents were advised to keep a look out for a potential postponement of the town-wide garage sale due to weather.
- Utilities
- Various service upgrades took place by the Electric department.
- Patriotic Celebrations committee, made up mostly by veterans, are planning the next Memorial Day parade on May 29.
- Public safety
- New municipal radio system going live this week, after years of planning and with funding from the American Rescue Plan. Other partners in the community will be able to be a part of the system in the event of emergencies.
- 2023 budget introduction
- With no public comments, successful vote took place to formally adopt the 2023 budget.
- Various ordinances were read for votes or introduced for hearing, see agenda for details.
- Several were important to the goals of adopting the Climate Action Committee recommendations and were a milestone in that effort. The resolution can be viewed here.
The next meeting will be May 8.