Madison City Manager John Klimm continues to update procedures and protocols as the Madison City Council moves forward.
During the March 1 council meeting, Klimm asked council members to consider creating an ordinance that requires agendas for meetings to be finalized a week prior to a meeting so that council members, citizens, and stakeholders can review the agenda and have ample time to offer input prior to city discussions.
Klimm said such an ordinance would reduce complaints he has received about inadequate notifications.
District 2 City Councilor Eric Joyce said a citizen unhappy about some residents parking on lawns asked him about the possibility of creating an ordinance that would prohibit such practices.
Parking regulations created in the past require parking space for two vehicles on a property occupied by a home larger than 2,000 square feet and space for one vehicle on smaller homes.
Mayor Fred Perriman noted that in today’s environment, skyrocketing housing costs have led to younger residents returning to Madison to live with their parents because they can’t afford to live anywhere else.
One downside of such an ordinance seems to be that it would lead to more people parking on the street. Questions were asked about what other cities similar to Madison had done to address the issue, and Klimm suggested, forwarding the issue to the city’s planning department since he said it seems to be a code enforcement issue.
"If you have a driveway you need to use it,” Klimm said.
“I would like to see cars not parked in yards, and I would like to see cars not parked inappropriately or excessively in the street, " Joyce added. “However, I’m not sure an ordinance prohibiting that is a solution.”
City Attorney Jay Crowley said that an ordinance prohibiting parking on lawns was recently passed in the city of Walnut Grove and residents responded by dumping gravel in yards and parking on that.
City councilors also voted to create committees to study and make recommendations for upcoming city appointments, including city attorney, municipal court judge, and city solicitor.
Klimm said a firm has been located to conduct a city survey that will gauge what citizens and stakeholders would like to see the city focus on in the years to come. The survey is scheduled to be conducted in April or May.
“I hope the council will do all they can do to encourage citizens to take the time [15 or 20 minutes] to fill out the survey,” Klimm said. “This is our citizens’ opportunity to tell us how they feel about a wide variety of issues. And it is being run independently and anonymously. We want an equal number of respondents in each one of your districts. The effectiveness of the survey will be determined by the number of people who take it. I think it will give us information that maybe we’ve never had.”
Klimm said the survey will be a hybrid that includes paper questionnaires and phone interviews.
A mail program will direct residents to a website to take the survey or where to pick up a paper survey at sites around Madison. Residents will also have the option of calling a number for a phone interview.
In other business covered during the meeting, Madison Fire Marshall Gene Porter said a local company has offered to install required sprinkler systems for room additions at the new Madison Fire Station free of charge.