The bulk of the Madison City Council work session held on Nov. 1 in the council chambers was devoted to information that came out more than two months ago. Still, City Manager John Klimm wants the community to know city leaders have not forgotten.
Between May 10 and Aug. 28 of this year, 364 Madison residents completed a community survey designed to help city leaders better understand how members of the community view the city and its operations.
Klimm wants Madison residents to know that the city council is taking what the survey revealed in September to heart.
“Skeptics will say the survey won’t matter, that the city won’t listen to the concerns of Madison residents,” Klimm said. “But we want to show that we’re genuinely interested in what citizens think.”
Klimm and the council didve into the first topic, city taxes and the services residents pay for. City leaders have long complained that tax bills don’t adequately inform residents that the city only accounts for approximately 18 percent of the total tax assessed to residents.
Councilor Betsy Wagenhauser suggested sending out a notice that is not a tax bill to remind residents how small the city’s cut of the tax bill is, an idea that was approved by other councilors.
Councilman Ed Latham said that although the recent passage of the TSPLOST would not have passed without Madison city voters, 80 percent of the revenue the TSPLOST generates goes into county coffers.
According to the survey, six in 10 Madison residents rate the value of the services they receive for city taxes and fees as either good or very good; 26 percent rate the value as fair; 14 percent rate the value as poor; and 10 percent rate the value as very poor.
Twenty-eight percent of residents said they would like to see improvements in garbage, leaf/limb, and recycling services.
Latham suggests increasing leaf/limb pickup efficiency by designing a targeted route instead of having collection trucks traveling all over the city when many streets do not have leaves or limbs to pick up.
Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of responding Madison residents reported feeling very safe in downtown Madison, while 24 percent reported feeling somewhat safe. Only about three percent reported safety concerns.
Klimm said these opinions should be incorporated into the Madison-Morgan Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau information, making Madison a more attractive tourist destination.
Councilors also discussed the possibility of working with Morgan County High School and Career Academy on programs that might encourage students to pursue law enforcement careers close to home.
According to the survey, three in 10 residents are very or somewhat concerned about the possibility of their homes being impacted by flooding or poor road drainage.
Klimm said city engineer Aaron Wadley has been working on a stormwater ordinance to address those concerns and attended a conference in Raleigh, N.C., on innovative ways to cope with private property interventions.
Mayor Fred Perriman and Councilor Carrie Peters-Reid have long been vocal proponents of affordable housing in Madison, but federal and state regulations have often complicated the situation.
Everyone seems to want affordable housing for Madison and Morgan County residents. Still, some of the recently completed housing is occupied by people who once lived in other cities and counties.
Peters-Reid said that most of the subsidized Canaan Crossing development residents are from either Greene County or the Athens area; the development now has a waiting list of more than 200 people. Reid also said she hoped programs could be developed whereby Madison residents could buy homes instead of leasing apartments, thus leading to generation wealth often denied to some ethnic groups.
Klimm said he believed the city should establish goals for affordable housing to gauge progress.
Councilor Eric Joyce was pleased with the results of the work session.
“This, to me, is how a work session is supposed to work: great interaction between all of us; we can have our opinions heard; the public can hear what we’re saying," he said.