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Monona council approves amended MOU with Friends of San Damiano, adds annual financial reporting requirement
Summary
The City of Monona approved a memorandum of understanding with the Friends of San Damiano on terms for use and stewardship of San Damiano, adopting date and response-time changes and requiring an annual year-end financial statement and in-person presentation to the council.
The Monona City Council on March 17 approved Resolution 25-3-2786, adopting a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the City of Monona and the Friends of San Damiano that sets terms for the use, management, maintenance and future development of the San Damiano property.
The council approved amendments that moved several internal deadlines and lengthened the city’s response window, and it added a new annual financial reporting requirement for the Friends of San Damiano. Mayor O'Connor called the item for consideration; City Administrator Neil summarized the agreement before the council considered changes.
Why it matters: The MOU formalizes responsibilities between the city and the volunteer group overseeing San Damiano and adds transparency measures the council said are needed given the group’s management role.
Council action and key changes - The council amended four sections of the draft MOU to change the December 1 deadline to November 1 and to replace a 30-day city response period with 45 days. The amendment applied to sections 2(a), 3(c), 4(b) and 6(b. - The council added a new section 3(f) requiring the Friends of San Damiano to provide a formal year-end financial statement to the city before March 1 of each year and to present an overview of that financial statement and the annual report in person at the first regularly scheduled council meeting in March. - With the amendments in place, the council voted to approve the resolution as amended.
City Administrator Neil described the amendments as mainly changes to dates and the financial-reporting requirement and indicated the amended agreement reflected earlier discussion between staff and the Friends of San Damiano. Alder Wood moved the amendment to change the dates and response windows; the council later approved the additional financial-reporting amendment.
Quotes from the meeting included Alder Wood’s explanation for the timing change: the deadline shift and longer response window were intended to avoid having the city’s response period fall in the middle of the Christmas holidays. After the vote Mayor O'Connor thanked staff and outside counsel for their work on the agreement.
What the MOU requires and next steps The MOU as amended sets operational timelines and a 45-day city response interval for the enumerated sections, and it imposes an annual transparency obligation on the Friends of San Damiano so the council will receive an annual financial statement and an in-person overview each March. The agreement will be executed according to the adopted resolution. The city administrator and staff will implement the new reporting schedule and update any referenced dates in the final document.
Meeting context: The item was handled as unfinished business under Council Action and was discussed and voted on during the March 17 meeting after brief staff remarks and proposed amendments.
