Fiscal Note
The proposed resolution has no fiscal impact.
Title
Repealing Section 33.12 and amending Section 33.52 of the Madison General Ordinances to eliminate the Committee on Community Gardens.
Body
DRAFTER'S ANALYSIS: This ordinance will eliminate the Committee on Community Gardens. In addition, because the Committee on Community Gardens is being eliminated, a specific community gardening representative will become part of the membership of the Food Policy Council. Some other updates are being made to the ordinance to reflect the change in job title for the Food Policy Director and to better delineate the Food Policy Council’s duties and responsibilities. The effective date of this ordinance will be January 1, 2017, to enable the Committee on Community Gardens to prepare any final reports and hold its last meeting in December, and to allow the Food Policy Council to plan for its new responsibilities prior to the dissolution of the Committee on Community Gardens.
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The Common Council of the City of Madison do hereby ordain as follows:
1. Section 33.12 entitled “Committee on Community Gardens” of the Madison General Ordinances is hereby repealed.
2. Section 33.52 entitled “Food Policy Council” of the Madison General Ordinances is amended to read as follows:
“33.52 FOOD POLICY COUNCIL.
(1) Food Policy Council. The City of Madison Food Policy Council (FPC) is created and shall be governed by this ordinance.
(2) Membership; Terms.
(a) The FPC shall consist of twenty-three (23) members appointed by the Mayor, subject to confirmation by the Common Council; except that the representative of the Madison Metropolitan School District shall be appointed by the Superintendent of the School District. Three (3) of the members shall be alderpersons; aldermanic appointees shall serve a term expiring concurrent with their term as alders. Nineteen (19) of the remaining members shall be adult citizen appointees; adult citizen appointees shall serve a term of three years expiring on October 1st in the third year following appointment, except the term of the member of the Community Gardens Committee shall expire with his or her term on the Community Gardens Committee. One (1) member shall be less than twenty-four (24) years of age when appointed and shall serve a term of one year, expiring on July 31, and shall not count against the nineteen (19) adult citizen members. All vacancies shall be filled by appointment of the Mayor, subject to Common Council approval, for a term filling out the remainder of the vacated members' term.
(b) When the FPC is first constituted, the initial appointments shall be staggered as follows: Seven (7) citizen appointees shall be for a term of three (3) years; and six (6) citizen appointees shall be for a term of two (2) years; and six (6) citizen appointees shall be for a term of one (1) year.
(3) Composition. The adult citizen membership shall be composed as follows: one (1) member shall be a representative from the City of Madison Community Gardens committee or an advocate of community gardens, one (1) shall represent a direct-market producer, one (1) shall be a food-access advocate, one (1) shall be a representative from a health care provider, one (1) shall be a representative of the Madison Metropolitan School District, one (1) shall be a local restaurateur, one (1) shall represent a small or mid-sized retailer, one (1) shall be a representative from or an advocate for an urban farm, one (1) shall be employed by an accredited university or college as an expert in food and/or agricultural systems, one (1) shall be an employee of UW-Extension.
The remaining nine (9) adult members shall represent any of the following categories, groups, or organizations: a community-supported agriculture organization, a consumer group, an economic development entity, an environmental advocate, a food bank, a farmers' market, a food cooperative, a food processing company, a mobile food vendor or retailer, a neighborhood development organization, a religious organization, a school district, a school food and/or nutrition expert, a staff member from a youth group organization, a sustainable agriculture advocate, or a sitting member of a city or county committee that advises on food-related policy, including, but not limited to the Dane County Food Council or the Madison and Dane County Board of Health, or a representative from any of the other organizations listed above and making up the balance of the FPC.
The Chairperson of the Food Policy Council shall be the Mayor or his or her designee, who may fulfill any of the citizen membership requirements above. The designee shall serve a three-year term beginning October 1st of the year of appointment.
(4) Staffing. Public Health Madison and Dane County and the city of Madison Food and Alcohol Policy Administrator City of Madison Food Policy Director (or other Mayoral designee) shall serve as staff to the FPC. Other applicable city staff shall support the FPC as necessary.
(5) Duties. The FPC shall act in an advisory role to the Mayor and Common Council, developing and making recommendations on food policy changes and monitoring implementation relative to reducing hunger through providing community-wide access to food; enhancing the local and regional food economy; creating an economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable local food system; and improving the health and nutrition of the community through local, healthy food options.
(6) Responsibilities. The FPC shall have the following responsibilities:
(a) Make recommendations to the Mayor and Common Council on ordinances, policies, and budgetary items that have an impact on the food system.
(b) Request city staff to develop policies related to the food system based on research, input, and advice from the community.
(c) Solicit input from experts and citizens within the food system and lead discussion on various topics in order to inform policy recommendations.
(d) Set benchmarks for city departments to reach within a certain time frame to evaluate city progress.
(e) Create subcommittees as necessary to facilitate collaboration among stakeholders and to provide further support on policy recommendations.
(f) Review recommendations from the Dane County Food Policy Council and the City of Madison Ad Hoc Local Food Committee.”
3. This ordinance shall become effective on January 1, 2017.”
EDITOR’S NOTE:
Section 33.12 currently reads as follows:
“33.12 COMMITTEE ON COMMUNITY GARDENS.
(1) Purpose. The Committee on Community Gardens shall act in an advisory capacity to the Mayor and the Common Council in identifying the potential roles for community gardens in neighborhood improvement efforts; in identifying possible City actions that can facilitate such efforts; recommending actions for the implementation of the November 30, 1999, “Growing a Stronger Community with Community Gardens: An Action Plan for Madison”, (Action Plan) and; acting as a sounding board for citizen concerns regarding community garden issues and/or the implementation of the Action Plan recommendations.
(2) Organization. The Committee shall be composed of ten members to be appointed by the Mayor subject to the approval of the Common Council on the third Tuesday of April for a term commencing on that date. One committee member must be an appointed member of the Community Development Block Grant Committee; another committee member must be an appointed member of the Parks Commission and a third committee member must be an appointed member of the Plan Commission. Such persons shall remain committee members so long as they are members in good standing of the commissions from which their appointment originates. Each of the foregoing commissions shall each nominate one of their members to the Mayor who may appoint the recommended persons to the Committee, subject to the approval of the Common Council. The terms of all such appointments shall be three years. Initial appointment terms shall be set as follows so as to create staggered terms thereafter: four members shall be appointed for three (3) years, three members for two (2) years, and three members for one year.
(3) Vacancies. All vacancies shall be filled by appointment of the Mayor subject to approval of the Common Council for a term filling out the remainder of the vacated member’s term.
(4) Staffing. The Mayor’s Office shall staff this committee.
(5) Compensation. The members of the Committee shall serve without compensation.”