Fiscal Note
No appropriation required.
Title
Dissolving the Committee on Community Gardens and expressing appreciation to past and current members for their accomplishments.
Body
WHEREAS, the Common Council formalized the City of Madison’s Committee on Community Gardens (Ordinance 33.12) in 2005 to act in an advisory capacity to the Mayor and the Common Council in identifying the potential roles for community gardens in neighborhood improvement efforts; to identify possible City actions that can facilitate such efforts; to recommend actions for the implementation of the November 30, 1999, “Growing a Stronger Community with Community Gardens: An Action Plan for Madison”, (Action Plan) and; to act as a sounding board for citizen concerns regarding community garden issues and/or the implementation of the Action Plan recommendations; and,
WHEREAS, the Community Action Coalition, with whom the City had worked closely for many years, discontinued its support of community gardens on May 31, 2014; and,
WHEREAS, the Gardens Network was created in March of 2015 as a partnership between the City of Madison, Dane County UW-Extension and Community GroundWorks to support the creation, maintenance, and expansion of community gardens in Madison and Dane County; and,
WHEREAS, the Common Council created the Food Policy Council (Ordinance 33.52) in 2012 which provides for a representative of community gardens in its membership; and,
WHEREAS, in light of these institutional changes concerning community gardens, the City of Madison’s Committee on Community Gardens conducted an exhaustive examination (Legistar #42601) of the issues that led to the creation of the Community Gardens Advisory Committee in 1999 and later the Committee on Community Gardens in 2005 as identified in “Growing a Stronger Community with Community Gardens: An Action Plan for Madison” report; and,
WHEREAS, this examination, conducted during 2015 and 2016, included an identification of resolved issues, as well as an assessment of unresolved issues from the report’s Action Plan and an assessment of whether they are within the missions of the Committee on Community Gardens, Gardens Network, and/or Food Policy Council; and,
WHEREAS, this examination determined that there were no longer any issues that fell solely within the mission of the Committee on Community Gardens; and,
WHEREAS, the City of Madison’s Committee on Community Gardens met with community gardens stakeholders on April 26, 2016 and concluded that, between the Gardens Network and the Food Policy Council, there was no compelling reason, or uniqueness of mission, to justify the ongoing existence of the City’s Committee on Community Gardens; and,
WHEREAS, the City of Madison’s Committee on Community Gardens approved a “Recommendation to Dissolve the Community Gardens Committee and Transfer Its Responsibilities to the Food Policy Council” on September 27, 2016; and,
WHEREAS, the City of Madison Food Policy Council accepted the City of Madison’s Committee on Community Gardens recommendation on October 5, 2016,
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that pursuant to the recommendations of the Committee on Community Gardens and the Food Policy Council, the Council should act to repeal Section 33.12 and amend Section 33.52 of the Madison General Ordinances to dissolve the Committee on Community Gardens and transfer oversight of community gardens to the Food Policy Council; and,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Mayor and Common Council wish to express their appreciation to Nan Fey and Jill Schneider, current Co-Chairs of the Committee on Community Gardens, for leading the Committee through a thorough and thoughtful process to review the role and future of the Committee, and,
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the Mayor, Common Council and residents of Madison, particularly those who garden in the City’s community gardens, wish to thank the past and present members of the Committee on Community Gardens for their accomplishments in establishing and maintaining a vibrant network of community gardens within the City of Madison.