Common Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone. Thanks for being here. We'll get started. I know we have a council member on the way. We'll uh welcome to the Tuesday, March 17th city council meeting. We are streaming live on city mass YouTube channel and archiving uh the meeting there. We have an important agenda tonight. We will begin as uh with our other meetings by inviting you to stand with us to recite the Lord's Prayer followed by the pledge of allegiance. Our father

who art in heaven be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. I allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. All right, clerk, may we have a roll call, please? Sure. Patrick Tean here. Carla Krebs here. Lucy Dillo is absent. Josh Schaefer here. Joel Storm is on the way. Jim Bartlett here. Jim Bartlett is online. And Josh Wilbur here. Thank you. Council, do you have any comments on the minutes from the last meeting dated Tuesday, March the 3. If not, we'll entertain a motion to approve. I move we accept the minutes as presented. I'll second. Any discussion? All in favor, please say I. I. Any naysay? Thank you.

All right. We do have uh one guest uh tonight for presentation of uh Antiva technology report. Mindy, if you'd like to do an introduction.

Good evening. Um yes, I'd like to introduce Aaron Taylor and James Scott. They are our two um closely working partners from Intiva, who used to be the purple guys that we initially uh contracted with for our upgrades in technology. So, I thought it would be a good time after we've gotten to this point and worked with them for three years now um on everything that we've done for them to give you a little update on where we are in the process, what's left to come, um why it's important, and some of the changes that we've made. So, I would invite them up so that they can give you a little more information than I'm capable of doing. Welcome.

Thank you. Uh, thanks for that introduction, Mindy. Uh, my name is James Scott and I am a solutions consultant with Antiva. And this is Aaron Taylor. He's the technical account manager. James, let me ask you just turn the mic. Turn just point that up to you a little bit. There you go. Like that. Thank you. Okay. All right. Uh, and Aaron Taylor, he's the technical account manager for Antiva. Uh, and we partner with y'all on all of your technology needs hopefully.

Awesome. Thank you, Mindy. Um, so, uh, over the past few years, we've partnered with you on a few of our goals. Uh some of those goals include technology modernization. Uh so we've partnered with you on focus uh and focusing on some of Madison's technology infrastructure and supporting some of your digital transformation goals. Uh enhanced security measures. So we've provided some robust cyber security protocols that we've implemented um and those were in order to protect the city and some of its uh public facing services. uh operational efficiency so streamline communication systems improve collaboration uh so think teams Microsoft office sharepoint um and operational workflows across all the departments um and sustainable slashcalable digital solutions so that'll give you guys scalability scalability moving forward as you grow um so were your technology uh key initiatives that we've completed up to this point. So, uh, when we first came on, a couple of the things that we did was email migration and implementing Microsoft Teams migrations. Um, so that included a technology gap assessment uh, across your collaboration and communication um, services, MFA setup on select user accounts, DNS cutovers, uh, and then of course just strong enduser support from our um, managed services teams. Uh, also teams migration. So tenant setup, user account creations, getting files transferred over in a Microsoft's environment. Um, and then also uh constructural consulting on like how the best way you can architect your data and hierarchical format files, folders and within SharePoint. Uh also post migration training. So training sessions that allowed the staff and employees just to get more familiar with

Microsoft's email and teams environments uh and those tools. uh networking and security enhancements. Uh so infrastructure and security upgrades. Uh so network equipment was replaced and purchased um and implemented across a lot of the city's buildings including this one. Um and that was just in an effort to increase performance uh provide more reliability on all the infrastructure between locations. Uh firewall and VPN security. So firewalls were implemented across all the locations and that provides just an extra layer of protection in your networks. Um and VPNs were enabled also um and as you'll as we talk about Azure those VPNs are what allow you to communicate into your Azure environment uh which is on Microsoft's cloud uh cloud and backup solutions. So uh Azure cloud configurations and Azure backups. So uh Azure is uh Microsoft's platform where you can virtualize servers. So we move from on-prim server appliances into Microsoft's cloud. Uh it's very efficient, very secure. Uh and then backups also are there. So they take daily snapshots. Um did you have a question?

Yes. Have we moved all of our physical servers to the cloud so at this point? Correct. Yep. Including the police. Uh well they have an on-prim server for their cameras, their body cameras. Correct. Yep. That's still in the police department. Yep. Uh and we did that because the all of that data uh moving into Microsoft's cloud would be just abhorrent. So having a physical server on prim for their cameras um is the most efficient way for them to use and operate. All the other ones are on on cloud now. Correct. Yep. I and I'll assume you know the follow up to that I'll assume that there is a backup to the backup that you you know it gets done right. So there's replication somewhere so that if for some reason something happens.

Yeah. So on Microsoft's platform um they do you know daily snapshots um and then their their environment itself is actually replicated across their data centers. Yeah. Usually that's the case with clouds but I just want to make sure. I mean it's pretty thanks. No it's a great question. Yep. Uh and then user account audits. So when we came in there were there are a few stale user accounts. So, uh, just keeping things cleaned up and, uh, shrunk down and then making sure that no, you know, a user that's left is not just remaining out there. Have we dealt with all the, uh, shared signons at this point? Uh, shared user accounts that were

um, those are still in existence and working through working through those. Yes. Yep.

Uh, Microsoft's implementation. So again to to kind of further you know peel the onion back a little bit more on the Azure and server side. So uh yeah all your servers are now in Azure uh critical systems like key fund and your domain controllers were migrated into Azure's environment just to make it more modernized. uh secure remote access. So VPN gateways were established from here and some of the other locations so that you can securely access those servers without there you know being any public facing um you know information uh data redundancy and backup. So again we've kind of talked about that Azure's backups um are in place uh and that allows for a lot of redundancy and disaster recovery capabilities. Um and then identity management is within Entra. Um you do have some DCS um where some users still reside but that's an ongoing process too to just get them all in optra. Uh additional initiatives operational enhancements uh so consistent branding. So, one of the things that we did um two years ago maybe uh so standardized email signatures and that just helped create a more uniform um brand identity and your emails across the city so that way everybody has the exact same signature format. Uh network connectivity enhancements. So, we put network infrastructure at the Crystal City beach pool um and added backup cellular capabilities here. So if Maternet were to have an outage, um Verizon's 5G network would kick in. Uh advanced monitoring systems. Uh so we collaborated with the wastewater treatment folks um on how to get waterly devices implemented on their network so they have a better way to monitor and operationally control uh the wastewater. Uh and then system uh performance updates. So, uh, when we took over, we started managing all of your Windows 10

and 11 upgrades across all the departments and all the locations citywide. Uh, current value delivered uh, and all that. Thank you. I will pass it right back to you. Um, hi everyone. My name is Aaron. Pleasure to meet you. Uh, hopefully you guys get used to this after some time. It's a little nerve-wracking for me, but it's a pleasure to meet you guys. Um so your comprehensive manage service. So at a baseline we're talking about unlimited remote support workstation monitoring patch and inventory tracking for IT management. Beyond that we have manage endpoint detection and response with a 247 sock that is monitoring those alerts to protect against cyber security threats and ensure system integrity. In fact we work with Mindy. many can vouch that uh we have caught things after hours and made sure they've been shut down and had the minimal risk possible to get you back up and running with the least amount of downtime possible. Um man, is everyone familiar with manage endpoint detection and response?

Okay, so it's a very interesting tool set. So your antivirus that everyone's used to hearing, antivirus is a this is a known good or a known bad. So someone always gets caught. So there's a first, you know, a group of people get compromised by a file until it shares enough information that okay, no this is bad. We need to start blocking it. This does not only look for good files, bad files. This actually looks at what the files are doing, what are they trying to reach. Are they trying to do something suspicious? Are they trying to elevate permissions? So in fact, it's been regulated with a lot of government companies to have EDR in place. So really, it's the only way to go. So uh you have a great solution in place there. uh our security alert and management. So, not only do you have EDR on your computer, so that's protecting your computers, but your biggest threat vector is your email. So, emails available from anywhere. That's that's the benefit of it. You don't have to drive to work just to check your phone really quick. You're on vacation, everyone puts an update. So, we have what's called Blackpoint. Blackpoint will monitor login and anything suspicious, it'll suspend. It'll create a ticket. We'll reach out, hey, is this person traveling? and they didn't let us know they're traveling, you know, or that's weird. They were in Indiana and then two hours later then Bangladesh and that's impossible. So, you know, stop and take a look at it. So, um that is not only protecting your internal environment, but we're getting alerts for your external, which is very important as we're starting to move to a more cloud-based structure. Uh next item would be um email security services. So, you know, overall spam protection. That's the very basic, you know, the pumpkin spice that you can get for it. But we go beyond that. So we do fishing prevention campaigns. So we send campaigns that'll tell us that we review with Mindy of like these people clicked on things they shouldn't have. You know, it's not malicious, but it would have been. You know, this is a a clearly not a legitimate email. And so that way we can look and have a conversation of like, hey, you know, don't put in your credentials when you're doing that. And on top of that, we provide training

using real world examples that are up to date of what current threat actors are doing, so you know what's in the new What's been your uh stats from the campaigns? I would love to give that to you. I just don't have it on me right now, but we can pull it up and I can get it to you. Um yeah, just you know, we do we do the same. Um and there's always somebody that that clicks it, right? So what is the response to that? Do we have a uh formal response where it's like, okay, well that user now we need to get them through training again. We need they need to understand what they did and what what to look for.

Yes. It is a two-part response. Obviously, um you know, they're employees of the city of Madison, so there needs to be a conversation there, but then it's also assigned new training where, hey, you miss us, let's take you back through what we did wrong, and I'll assign this training for them. Mindy, are we doing that? Proactive? I mean, like to that level or we do regular training, they issue it. So when somebody So when you get the report that there was a failed campaign, are we reaching out to the person that did that and saying, "Hey, this is what happened. This is what you did. You need to go through this training." Yeah.

Okay. Good. Uh and then, you know, overall DNS and SSL management. Um you know, DNS and just name resolution. You know, there's certain records that need to be in place to make sure that your email is not marked as spam. Hey, there we go. So, uh, me and James, uh, have worked with you guys for quite a bit. In fact, James, uh, started off, so I'm going to let him do the in progress because he's been very vital in these projects and then there's going to be some feature items I want to talk about based on just recent things that have happened. So, I will pass it back to uh, all right. So, uh, future projects that are in progress. So, the server upgrade. So, we've been collaborating with Brian and his team, uh, over at the utility department to talk through like what a possible server upgrade would look like. Um, you know, we're having more discussions. We, you know, whether we go are we going full SAS with so it's a browserbased solution, or are we actually, you know, putting some more money into the server and get it up to where it needs to be. Uh, airport network solutions. So, we're working with Brent right now at the airport to talk through uh or to go through um an implementation where we're enabling Wi-Fi solutions at the hangers. Um we're shrinking down the tech stack and combining it while also segmenting the network. So, the network uh at the airport proper the corporate network still stays segregated away from um airport client facing traffic if that makes sense. So somebody that rents the hanger won't be able to see um the airport's network. It's like a complicated guest Wi-Fi.

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yep. Uh and then Windows 10 computer replacements. So we've gone through the process of replacing the old Windows 10 machines that were not capable to get Windows 11 um and they just needed hardware replaced the gate. I still like his steer but uh all right so with recent activ yeah yeah sorry uh with recent activities um you know everything that you're looking for security happens internally but your biggest attack vector is external uh email like I mentioned is the biggest one but there's also VPN and it's it's necessary for some people to have access to VPN to do their jobs when they're remotely um we got the project approved we need to implement MFA on your VPN it is that is your identical because the only thing protecting VPN is username and password which has proven to be easily brute forced. It's kind of if you only have a password, you basically don't have enough security is what it comes down to. So the MFA is that deadbolt to prevent people from just trying to bust the door down. Um that being said, MFA for Microsoft 365 currently was only select users. I know this is a large, you know, conversation that we need to have holistically of not just one or two people or this handful of people here. Everyone should really have MFA on Microsoft 365. And the great news, you already have the licensing we need to get you set up correctly. Um, all it is is creating a policy, working on documentation, and then just having end user expectations set. So that way they know, okay, when I log in, this is what it looks like. Um, currently cyber insurance They basically go after whatever cost them the most money last year. And MFA on email is getting to the point where some people will not get covered if it's not on there. So, a really big important item that we cover is MFA from Microsoft

365. So, I can work with Mindy on that, but um really just as a as a whole, we just need to make sure people are invested and understand the reason for because I know it's it feels like a pain, but nowadays like you log into your bank, you got to do MFA. You know, anything that's semi secure, you have to do MFA. So, at this point, it's it's kind of a have to. Um so, just setting those user expectations. We usually don't have a lot of people being like, I don't want to do this. This is a problem. Um but we'll work through whatever we need to and I'll work with Mindy. I just wanted to share that these are things that we have to focus on and and we have to focus on now. Um the next step to this is legacy authentication. So legacy authentication is not supported by Microsoft. The reason it's not supported by Microsoft is even if you have MFA turned on, it bypasses it. So we need to disable legacy authentication across your entire tenant. And the next bit of great news, you already have the licensing for it. All we got to do is add the policy. So that's not really going to affect you, but that is a proactive security measure rather than waiting for something to happen. Let's get in front of this and get it done sooner so that we can get it implemented next week.

Is the MFA is it ran internally? Is the MFA ran internally or through like authenticator or other? Good. Uh Microsoft authenticator. So the MFA for VPN that has to be an application called Duo.

Mh. um just because the firewall does not support I hate throwing out let's just say the firewall does not support Microsoft authentication otherwise we would just use authenticator uh but for email yes authenticator is the way to go and not just hit approve because you can hit that in your pocket on accident we need to make sure it's a code so that way if someone hits it and somehow gets access to your password someone can't accidentally approve and I know that seems like oh yeah I would never do that but it happens people do it phone's unlocked on the pocket like I've called people on accident you So, if I can call people on accident, that's like nine numbers. One click on accept. That's a lot easier. So, um the key thing is, hey, making sure it's set up correctly, making sure it's enforcing everyone. Um but then that's all, hey, people need to have authenticator on their phones. Is everyone okay with having authenticator on their phones? If not, we have to discuss, you know, do you want to go a less secure option of, you know, text codes, but those can easily be spoofed, which I'm not a fan of. So, this is just kind of a listic thing to think about. I would recommend authenticator across the board, but you know, it's also, you know, we need your buy in as well. So, whatever you guys are willing to to work with, you know, we will do. Um, but it's critical to have future cyber insurance guaranteed. Uh, it will not be covered or your rates will skyrocket if this is not in place.

Uh, mention the VPN is not compatible with authenticare. Which one are we running? Uh, we will be running Duo. Oh, which firewall? So, VPN. Um, yeah. Sofos firewall with Duo for the uh using radius for authentication. So in Duo is same thing. So you know you would assume Microsoft authenticator they would make it so you can do MFA on your computer. Uh no so Duo is the premier if I need to authenticate on my computer and want that. Um so Duo is a partner that we work with and that basically fills in the gap that Microsoft has not yet taken over. Will Microsoft take them over? Guaranteed. You know eventually they're going to want that money but uh but for now Duo is the option. Are you guys using the Windows VPN at all?

Um, in this case, no, because it really matters what is compatible with the firewall. So, the firewall has a specific client that it uses and for that it needs to use radius. So, it's not directly connecting to the server. It's just a group and then from there that triggers within Duo to do that. Um, we have used that depending on the product, you know, different firewalls have different things. You know, there's forgates out there, there's a Maro, there there's other items, but specifically for Sofos, this is the best option. Are you guys able to do any single sign on for the of course we don't do a lot besides emails here but for the rest of the city users accessing multiple systems are they able to use single sign on through Microsoft or so the radius would be using the active directory accounts um so that way it should be single sign onish I'm not going to say that all your programs will not be single sign on but for that it would be authenticating with something that's known not just a local account so um either I'm not the project working it would either the active directory or enter ID. But either way, those two will be connected. Um, so it should all be tied together because yes, who wants to have another password to remember. Um, it's all about ease of use and security where the two work together. Uh,

any disruption with the disabling the legacy authentication? I I don't So, uh, no. So, here's what my process is for disabling legacy authentication. First I do a full audit over 30 days of logs for any legacy authentication in use because there might be a couple in there where like a scanner if I do scan using SMTP that's legacy authentication. So what we do in those cases is I create a policy saying SMTP sorry legacy authentication is disabled except when coming from this IP address with this account. That way the only way that account can be used is here. So in situations where you need to use legacy authentication, we have a way of securing it still. Great.

So yes, we don't just blindly disable it and then tell us if something breaks, you know. Oh, come on. Yeah. Let me know how Thursday goes, you know.

Are there any other questions for Aaron? Aaron, are you you guys uh is there any other part of your slide you want to go through? Okay. Yeah, I mean we can pro this is just we do hardware procurement. Uh you know we help strategize. The main thing is anytime we do a project for you. We actually have a solutions architect that we book and we sit down to make sure we do research to make things things are compatible. Try to make the project as smooth as possible because if anyone's ever worked a project, you know, I don't know if I've ever seen anyone go front to back without any kind of hiccups. So we do to minimize whatever we can. Um summary of next steps. Um, we can probably, you know, I'll get a little more into this. The main thing that we're getting with this new contract is called a dedicated IT adviser. And that is something you guys have never gotten before. So, this is a brand new role that you guys will be getting to leverage on top of myself and James. Uh, Mindy gets to meet a brand new person named Mark Hartman. Uh, I've worked with him for 13 years. Um, so basically he manages a one to threeyear strategic annual IT roadmap including your budget planning. I kind of midyear and annual IT roadmap review with the city stakeholders as well as um you know upcoming IT roadmap for future growth and then assist with preparing the city's annual cyber security risk insurance application and then just participates with uh uh sorry participates and supports the uh city's account manager which would be myself and other applicable company resources. So that's just a new position that's you'll be introduced to in the coming months and looking forward to work with. Well, the technology has been a major investment of ours uh for very important reasons as they were outlining today. Mindy has spearheaded that. But it's critical that we have really good systems and particularly cyber security. I know Greg, you're here tonight. Thank you for being here and and he's our partner on the cyber security insurance side of things. And um we still have work to do though as you've outlined here.

Yeah. Well, security is a never Yeah. It'll never stop because if if someone tells you you're done forever, then they're not a good partner, right? Pleasure. Thank you guys very much.

As we move to the rest of the agenda, we do have one bill on first reading, two bills on second reading. Um, prior to getting into the first bill, uh, that I'll turn over to Devon in a minute, I'd like to give some remarks. Tonight, our agenda includes two major policy initiatives. The unified development ordinance, which sets forth modern best practices that will allow our community to deal with land use in a way that encourages and protects investment while improving quality of life in our city, and the new 2026 city of Madison employee handbook, which represents a comprehensive modernization of the city's personnel policies. In both instances, significant time has passed since these important policies were updated. And for Madison to thrive in the future, our policies must live in the future. The UDO will have its second reading tonight, while the 2026 employee handbook benefit portion is on its first reading. This updated handbook adds much needed structure to our processes uh and several other enhancements that Jenna is going to outline. Overall, the handbook is designed to support a fair, accountable, and high-erforming workplace while providing flexibility for our our evolving needs. Adoption of the UDO and the new 2026 city of Madison employee handbook will ensure the city of Madison continues to be a great place to live, work, raise a family, visit, and invest. I'd like to thank all of those who have been involved in these policy initiatives led by my staff Tony Steinhardt, Minnie McGee, Jenna Gibbs, and greatly assisted by members of our city plan commission, board of zoning appeals, city staff, city council, citizen members, our constituents, and our consultants with new focus HR and Taylor Seeker Williams, Amy Williams is here tonight who guided us through these year-long parallel initiatives. As with all our council meetings, after remarks from Jenna, we will begin the

reading of the ordinance and allow public comment. We will give any interested party the opportunity to provide remarks for up to four minutes about the ordinances on our agenda. Also, at the end of the meeting, we will allow anyone to give remarks on any other topics, also up to four minutes if you have signed in. The privilege to speak is a chance to share your thoughts uh or concerns with the mayor's office and your city council representatives as we deliberate and evaluate uh the ordinances. Please keep your remarks succinct and respectful. I'll turn it over to you for our bill and first reading. Uh thank you, Mayor. Ordinance 2026-6C entitled an ordinance of the common council of the city of Madison repealing and replacing ordinances 1982-6 2008-17 policy and procedure manual employee benefits benefits provisions and ordinance 2023-12 parental leave policy. It's on first reading.

Jenna.

Okay. Hi everyone. Um I just want to apologize beforehand. I'm going to read from my sheet. Um, there's a lot of information. I just don't want to miss anything. So, um, in 2021, I had the opportunity to intern with the city of Madison under Mindy. One of my first projects was reviewing the employee handbook, which at that time dated back to 2008 and no longer reflected current workplace practices or employment regulations. After being hired full-time that year, I continued updating policies one at a time, but it quickly became clear that the full handbook revision was a much larger project than we could manage alongside day-to-day responsibilities. In early 2024, we contracted with New Focus HR to assist with the revision. The work with SE they worked with several government entities including Jefferson County and paired us with a representative who previously worked for the state of Indiana. And over the past two years, we reviewed multiple drafts and ensured policies align with current workplace practices, gathered feedback from department heads, and worked with council member Josh Wilbur to gain additional operational insight. Our most recent updates address compliance with insurance liability coverages. And the document before you represents the final draft of this update. The city of Madison transitioned from a department-driven procedural manual to a legally compliant HR centered and riskmanaged employment system designed for modern public sector operations. Focusing specifically on the employee benefit section, the city's core benefits like vacation, sick leave, holidays, and FMLA have largely stayed the same. The biggest changes here are around clarity, organization, and making sure everything is aligned with current state and federal requirements. There are a few updates I wanted to call out specifically. We added Indiana Child Educational Activities leave, which allows eligible employees to take unpaid

leave for certain school related events. Military leave was also expanded to better explain employee rights and to create a more consistent internal process for tracking and administering that leave. Within the existing benefits, there were some targeted updates. Vacation and sick leave weren't significantly changed, but now have clearer acruals and usage guidelines. Bereavement leave was expanded to better define relationships and outline a process of additional if additional time is needed. Personal time off is still the same overall, but expectations around how it's used are now more clearly defined. One of the bigger changes is the transition from parental leave policy to a broader personal leave policy. Instead of limiting paid leave to child birth or adoption, the updated policy allows eligible employees to take paid leave for qualifying medical situations involving themselves or family members. The goal there was to move or was to make the policy more flexible and equal while still aligning with FMLA and ADA requirements. The 2026 handbook brings the city into alignment with current federal and state employment laws, including Pregnancy Workers Fairness Act and expanded ADA protections. It creates a professional HR centered system with consistent hiring, training, and harassment policies rather than relying on decentralized department-based procedures. The handbook strengthens data security, transparency, and accountability, clearly defining managerial roles between department heads and the mayor's office. Finally, it supports a flexible, performanceoriented workforce that can adapt to changing operational needs, all while reducing the city's legal exposure and providing clear guidance for employees and supervisors. Overall, the goal of these updates wasn't to take anything away, but to make sure the handbook was more clear, compliant, and consistent while better supporting both employees and the city moving forward.

Jenna, thank you. And uh I know council may have a few questions for you. I just want to emphasize this was a pretty long and and arduous initiative because of the 16 years I think that has passed since uh this topic was last visited. So a lot has changed in the employment world. And this was a companion project council that we did with regard to improving time management systems uh prior to leading into the the policy elements of it and some of the time management improvements are still still underway. But uh we'll now turn it over see if the council has any any questions and we'll hear any public comment on the benefits portion of the employee handbook. I don't have any questions, but No, I'm not going to drill you. I obviously was part of this. Come on. Um, you can do it. No, no, no. It's a lot of work. Uh, there's a lot of people that think that this is very easy and you just pull it down from chat GBT and it's all good to go and that's just not how it works. It helps uh but it's not how it works. You put a lot of effort into this. I know how much effort you put into this. So, uh, I just want to commend you on that and thank you for that because, uh, it is important. It's important for the employees of the city of Madison to know and what's expected, right? And it also helps the department heads, it helps management know what their role is when it comes to this. So is extremely important that this is correct. So congratulations to you for doing that. Thank you.

I know this is first reading it, but uh council any questions or comments for Jenna? If not, is there anybody here in the audience who would like to make a statement uh to the mayor or your council representatives with regard to the benefit portion of the handbook as reflected in ordinance 2026-6 hearing none move back to the next second reading um we're on go to the rest of the agenda council are there any reports recommendations or other business from standing or select committees of the city council. I I will just mention one thing and and u you know we spent a lot of time on policy development. Last year was a big year for that. We we had a few major policy initiatives like the UDO and uh the handbook carryover from last year. In a couple weeks we'll be presenting the Crooked Creek U storm water and flood mitigation plan. But as it relates to our standing committees, I believe it's time for us to re-evaluate event management in the city of Madison. Uh the board of public works, you know, meets uh the Monday prior to the council meetings. And each of those meetings has um quite a quite a bit of applicants on our agenda for street park closures, uh city resources to to support events. And we're all supportive of our growing and very thriving tourism industry. But I think we need to put some structure around it kind of like what we're doing with uh with the handbook. So I will be reaching out to uh one of our our standing committees to schedule a meeting soon to kind of get your input on event uh management and we'll bring in some other stakeholders too or in that space for the city. Um we do not have any reports from city officials. So we'll move on to bills on second reading.

All right. With the first bill on second reading is ordinance 2026-4, an ordinance of the common council of the city of Madison, Indiana, repealing and replacing the zoning ordinance and subdivision control regulations by adopting the unified development ordinance and zoning maps for the city of Madison, Indiana, as read by the title. Are there any um additional comments or questions from the council? And what I would do is maybe invite Amy to

you. I'm sorry. I was gonna introduce Amy Williams, our consultant from Taylor Cer Williams uh to just give an update and um you know we have been in this process for quite a long time. I think we started it in 2024. I think around October the end of 2024.

October, November of 2024. So, it's been a um a parallel process with our other key initiatives. And uh tonight we're we're finally here after going through the plan commission and and the first reading and now the second reading. The uh the information that we are considering tonight was uh has been made publicly available for many many months. I think starting last November once the um um adoption version was was starting to really come together as well as an update at the last meeting. You gave an overview of the proposed amendments that went through plane commission um and the incorporation of all the public comment that we had received uh uh to date as well as from the public open house and the elected officials officials training. So, there's been a lot of opportunity for comment along the way, but I know that uh we have our friends here uh who are in the buffer zone and that's an area that the city of Madison uh regulation from a planning and zoning perspective and um I was going to ask you to give an update because there's been some concern about solar. Um, we have worked very hard to make sure that we are not creating uh disruption to those that live in the buffer zone and I believe that we have done a good job of investigating and receiving input with regards to uh commercial energy and uh we've had lots of conversations with Jefferson County and the Jefferson County UDO with regards to to solar and other forms of commercial energy. But for tonight, um I I'd like you to maybe just go ahead and get this topic out there. Absolutely. With regards to where commercial energy can reside.

Yes. And and how it it if it was approved by the board of zoning appeals if I said if uh because there's no right for uh any commercial energy to be located anywhere. But Amy, I'll turn it over to you. Let's go and get that out front so that our our friends here can feel comfortable that we've properly addressed it.

Absolutely. And that was one of the newer the new comments we heard um I believe it was the last meeting um is the setbacks for solar within the RA district or adjacent to the RA district. So wanted to make sure we did our due diligence and looked at how could that actually be implemented or be impacted on the actual zoning map. So currently, just to do a quick recap, um the ordinance that is before you all today, um commercial solar requires a 500 foot setback from the closest edge of any um existing dwelling, church, school, or cemetery. So if there's existing house on a parcel, it doesn't matter what it's zoned, it's a 500t setback from that house itself. Um so that's the first one. We also then have a setback from a parcel without a dwelling, but if it's either platted for residential, so it has a recorded subdivision plat regardless of the zoning or if it's zoned R1, two or three. So our or HDR, our residential district, right? That is a 500 foot back from the setback from the property line. Um so the idea there is trying to catch again something that might be in the motions of residential or going towards that aspect. So, it's either platted for residential in any zone or it's zoned residential. Basically, that's the 500. And that was the question. The question was is why isn't RA, which is our residential our rural um our rural residential basically within the buffer area included? So, I did a quick really quick sketch uh here. So, um, I kind of went and looked at anywhere that it is a possibility, it would still require approval from the BCA and a public hearing process where everybody gets to give their input and we look at findings. Um, currently or as it's proposed, it'd be within the A district or heavy industry. Right? So, those are the only two places or two districts that it could go within if it got approved through a public hearing process through the BCA. So, I've kind of quickly just again, this was just printing it out real quick and doing a quick hash of the red. So I looked at

see where does that abut an RA district, right? So that's kind of more of the concern is if it if RA abuts this area, we want to make sure we're taking adequate provisions. So if you flip to the second page down Mindy, I zoomed in. So really the only place is along Dawson Smith Road, the lighter yellow areas, there's one on the right and one on the left. Um those are the only RA areas that abut either A or heavy industry. the one to the to the right side of your screen. I just went in on Google and I put dots on all the parcels that had maps on them or excuse on the map I put dots on every parcel that had a house on them. So on the right side or the east side of your drawing here or the map, those parcels on the north side of Dawson Smith have houses on them. They're zone dag, but it doesn't matter. So it's going to be 500 ft back from that house regardless. So that RA parcels to the south side of Dawson um east of 421 it's already going to be taken you know that would that would be taken care of on the west side of um 421 the other small area there are houses on um about three of those parcels there uh I think there are about five or six of those those parcels that are RA to the north there are some additional houses so again you're going to be 500 ft back from those houses that are on those parcels anyway. Um, so there's very limited ability for it to really interact within the RA the RA RA aspect. Um, I'm flip back, sorry, Mindy, to the first page. If you do look, a lot of the buffer, it's not actually zoned RA. Um, so this brighter yellow to the kind of east and west side of the city, those are zoned R1. So that's even though they are large parcels, they feel very A like they're zoned R1 um or currently R4. Uh they would be again that conversion it would become an R1. So those really are

already considered within that 500 foot. It's just some areas around um kind of to the south near Clifty and and a few of those areas to the kind of again in between those kind of ridges and valleys there um that don't abut a and they don't abut heavy industry. So we wanted to make sure we at least did our due diligence and make sure we looked into it to see um or at least that you guys had the information to be able to consider. So that was the only thing right now the the draft you the final draft it was the cleanup version had all of those four amendments. Um it didn't it still reads that it is 500 ft from a dwelling or um 500 from a platted residential parcel or a residential zone parcel

and we have a page on our website the UDO the zoning page. So it's a work project page and each draft that we've published has been put has been placed there for public viewing. uh as well as the plan commission certification as well as this adoption version that included the amendments are recommended by the plan commission that were approved at the last council meeting. So everything has been out there uh for for public viewing

since about Thanksgiving was the first end of November when we had the first time drafting Thanksgiving. Um any questions council from for Amy while she's at the podium? Hearing none. Uh uh is there any public comment with regards to ordinance 2026-4? If there's public comment, uh please come to the podium, state your name and address. Uh please give your remarks and uh please keep your remarks succinct and respectful. And we've got four minutes. Hello council. My name is Sheri Chabbo. I live on Deputy Pike and Deputy and I've been working with the Buffer Zone group of people. They're my neighbors or my friends. And I think that Amy has addressed a lot of the questions. It just so happens that the two areas that she's pointed out that are the is that the egg to the R2 R. Okay. last the people that own those two parcels are here. So that that's interesting. But you're talking a 500t setback for where the houses were there.

Hey ma'am, please if you direct your comments. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Thank you. So I'm trying to talk to your to your person here to answer what's on this map right here since we don't have that. It's not available to us on a public record. It's been in the document on on the website. No, this has been this is stuff that she's just added right through here. The map has been in the document the entire time. She's just delineating for the question.

I'm talking about the delineation here. So I have looked at your records and your records were changed since last time. So it wasn't since November you guys made some adjustments which I'm thankful for. So you moved the the set back to 500 ft. So thank you for that. So the other question that I have in the UDO is that you guys did add the word and definition for a data center. So thank you. But no protections not addressing anything as like we're going through here with solar with setbacks energy requirement water. This is going on across the whole country. This is going across in Indiana. And I'm going to ask the council to please consider a moratorum or to send it back to your council to your to your plan commission in order to address protections for the community. I know that they can only go in an industrial and there's only so much that you can do, but these are issues that need to be addressed countywide. So that's why I'd like to address with you here. And the setbacks on anything that doesn't have a house then is only 200 feet, not 500 feet. It'd only be for an existing house or a platted in any place other than the the R2. So, I just wanted to make those clarifications. And do you have any any plans on doing anything with data centers as far as addressing

um further revisions? That would be an amendment that would go later. I will say that as we've talked about the last meeting, this is a document that we're not going to put on the shelf for, you know, the next 10 years or so. Uh we've already talked about when we would revisit this, similar to what the county did, which is what's our experience with this document and what changes need to be made. Um so tonight, there are no proposed amendments that I'm aware of. We haven't gone through the rest of the meeting. Uh but that doesn't mean that in the future if something changes that it could be addressed then.

So that's what I'm asking for some type of a referral back to your plan commission to at least have a exploratory uh commission before we end up back into another situation. You want to protect your citizens here. So we're trying to be proactive instead of reactive. We all live in this community. We want to work together. So thank you. Thank you very much. Are there any? Okay. Yeah. Come on. Please come up. If you could please give your name and address and we'll get started.

My name is Cindy Goalie. I live at 2698 West Black Road here in Madison. Um we own both sides of Highway. Sorry, Miss Goalie. You might She might need your

on Black Road. Yes, ma'am. But we own the farm across from the highway also. So we go north with our farmland over to Deputy Pike almost. So I was confused because I thought we were at 500 ft even over by do Deputy Pike because we also have children that live along there and own property. And so then I was told it was 350 ft. And then I don't know where the 200 feet came in. I got confused because we have a son that came down with um heart failure. Paul has congestive heart failure and we've had the flu at our house with some people. So I got behind here somewhere. So I just needed to know as someone who has children and the family's been there for so many years and we hope to be there a lot longer. You guys got my rather um exciting email last night about how it felt, but I just really wanted to make sure that we are protected in the future. How much um setback are we guaranteed with this the passing of this on up by deputy pike that I can't I haven't seen this so I'm not sure when you talk about that it only involves a few houses were you talking about as far as deputy pike area

we don't go that far north to the north I don't believe our buffer zone goes that far north Amy can delineate it but the northern boundary of that that would fall under the County UDO, pardon me. Well, I know that we're included at Goalie's Orchard, all of the farmland, and our son's property is almost adjoining that. So, that's why I wanted to make that clear while I had the opportunity since I didn't have time to talk to anybody about it. Um, so what is the footage back there? If it's not I mean, that's only county. Um, we would only talk to county. So, how far does the city go? I'm let Amy if you'd like to address that. Yeah, I'm sorry. That's okay.

Yeah, because we've mirrored many of their provisions. So, deputy type. Yeah. Yes. Okay. Thanks. Part of it is in I'm gonna grab your mic. Just so for their own sanity later. So, Deputy Pike, a piece of it is in the buffer, piece is in the county. Um, on that side, you cannot put by our the proposed ordinance, solar cannot go in the buffer over there within RA or R1. So,

so you're you're good from that perspective. Um, again, where that red stripe is, it it'd have to be on the other side of um is that State Road 7 coming up? you you if you're on Deputy Pike, you're you're off of you're an R1 or RA and you don't have Agg or I heavy industry next to you. So from the county's perspective though, that's um there we did try to largely mirror their standards after the public meeting um in December and that's where we came back with again our rural districts we left as one our residential districts which is what the county does is the 500 from the parcel line. You should be you can't put um solar in the buffer on this area and if it comes in at the county our ordinances don't

matter. Yeah. Data centers would be also considered in that data centers are heavy industry. So they'd have to be in that dark purple area. What about by not by right? What about um agricultural R1 or whatever? What about the Can they go in there? I really wanted to know is what kind of buffer we have. So, thank you for your time. Thanks for reading my email last night. I just glad it out pretty fast. I'm sorry. I did I should have sent you one off. So, okay. Thank you.

But, uh but anyway, thank you for your time and you know involves our children. So, I have to say, you know, ask questions and find out. And Paul, like I said, my husband knows more about than I do. He's sitting at home with the flu right now. But anyway, thank you for your time. Appreciate it. Thank you. And we'll keep our eye. Thank you. Are there any public comments? Oh, yeah. Please come up and give your name and address and stand. My name is Cheryl Tandy and it's 3189 North Paper Mill. I'm sorry, was it Tandy? Yeah, Tandy with a T. And what was the address? Uh 3189 North Paper Mill.

Thank you. Can you explain to me on the farm ground with no houses? We were confused on the setbacks. Yep. Question. Farm ground. Now, we say farm ground, but you're going to have to go by the zoning district type, and Amy will respond to that standing. We don't we didn't bring our glasses. I'm sorry. Let me first grab the mic from you

just so that it gets recorded. I know that helps with theirs. Um so she asked again on a different from farmland versus a zone. So a lot of the area off of like Deputy Pike off to the the west side that's zoned R1 even though those are farms out there. So it doesn't feel R1 but it is zoned R1. Um so again in the A area it can only go there by special exception which means it goes through a public notice process a public hearing process and then the BZA um evaluates that based on certain findings certain criteria. So the green is that light green to the north side that's the a zone. So if you're to the east or west of the city, you're actually not zoned a you might be a farm, you know, or have farmland, but it's only the green areas are zoned.

Yes, sir. And that's that's north of Dawson. If you're zoned if you're zoned R1, so the darker yellow. Um yes, the lighter yellow is the RA, but again, um solar can't go in that district. start any of the yellows. Yeah, any of the yellows solar cannot go in. And again, like she asked about the data centers, those can only go in industrial I1 and I2. So, it's confusing because we own, you know, a lot of property right there on both sides. Mr. Tanny, may I ask you to speak into the microphone, please? We can catch you on record. Thank you.

We have a lot of property there on uh Deputy Pike and 300 and on both sides of 421. Well, that was confusing on what we was listening to about where it could go and where it couldn't go. And the 500 foot setback, does that 500 set back from the edge of the property or the edge of the house? As Amy was talking about, if there is a home there, it's from the home. If it's if there's if it's platted, for example, residential, it'd be from the edge of the property.

Okay? Cuz uh the piece of property we I don't know if you know where Pickle Station is, that's okay. uh we on both sides of there. So they would have to go from that house 500 ft in every direction because there's houses north, ssoutheast, and west of that group of of uh parcels and only if it is an agricultural and industrial budding uh district. So it's not that they can just put a data or or uh commercial solar anywhere, right? Can only goes in those two. And if it does go in those two by special exception, it has to be so much distance away from any residence or property line if it's flat for a residence.

So that would mean if there's 500 from this house on the east, 500 from this house on the west, so that would be a thousand total could be. Okay, it it's it I mean again this is I want to clarify we have worked really hard not to create an impact on our rural and agricultural areas. uh commercial solar energy data centers they really belong in industrial areas and I council has supported that all along more industrial and and things away from residential areas right so I think that this UDO accomplishes that and it's consistent with also Jefferson County but like you said no matter what direction it would be 500 ft from that dwelling

yes okay that's what we that's what was confusing me because if you only do the one 500 that's That's only 250 on this side, right? So if it's 500 from every dwelling, then right, that's more acceptable. Yeah. Okay. Very good. Thanks, sir.

Um hopefully these this discussion has been helpful to clarify. We want to make sure everybody feels comfortable with this. Are there is there any additional public comment? And now I'll turn it over to our clerk for a roll call ordinance 2026-4. Uh Patrick Tavana, yes. Carla Krebs, yes. Lucy Dillos, absent. Josh Schaefer, yes. Joel Storm, yes. Jim Bartlett, yes. And Josh Wilbur, yes.

Thank you, council. Moving on. We have one other bill to uh address tonight. Ordinance number 2026-5, an ordinance of the common council of the city of Madison, Indiana, amending certain portions of the city of Madison traffic code ordinance is found in chapter 73 of the city of Madison municipal code. It's on second reading. So, you want to start with council comment?

Just want to thank our sponsors for our bills tonight. Let me mention that uh Wilbur, Councilman Wilbur for the handbook. Um, Councilman Wilbur, our president of the plan commission for the UDO and Councilman Timoff for the two-way stop at Second and Central Streets. Council, any comments? Any public comment on ordinance 2026-5 establishing a two-way stop at Second and Central Streets? Seeing none, we'll go to roll call. Patrick Tana. Yes. Carla Krebs. Yes. Blue City is absent. Josh Schaefer. Yes. Joel Storm.

Yes. Jim Bartlett. Yes. And Josh Wilbur. Yes. Thank you, council. Thank you, Devin. Moving on through the agenda. Um, Councilwoman Crutch, is there any public comments for the signup sheet? I do have some names. And I want to remind you that um at this time the time limit is three minutes for public comment. First on my list is Debbie Beaman. Did you want to talk? No. Okay. Next I have Sherry. Sorry I can't read the last name. Japo. Chapo.

Oh thank you. Thank you Sucline.

Thank you. That's all. Thank you. Um, not a whole lot to offer on the mayor's comments. I just want to thank everybody for being here tonight and all the work that's gone through this process and the input. Uh, exciting news is on March the 30th, we will have our bid opening for our 2026 CCMG project. That includes quite a few neighborhood streets that it's important important to our asset management plan for our roads. And our next meeting will be Tuesday, April the 7th at the next board of public works and safety meeting. Uh our goal is to present the Crooked Creek stormwater master plan that we've also been working on for quite a while. It began after the flood, the flash flood in 2021. So we will bring be bringing another um important initiative uh to the community for discussion and then from there it'll be the planning uh and execution of a strategy and um finding the funding to uh accomplish our mitigation for flash flood and storm water council. Do you have any remarks hearing? None. I'll have a motion to adjurnn.

Move we adjurnn. Second. All in favor please say I. I I post. Thank you. Thanks everybody for being here.

I want to disconnect. You all good? I just Thank you. Bye. Bye. I'll take it. Byebye. I was like