Middleton water-resources commission welcomes new staff as utility expands

The Middleton Water Resources Commission on an unspecified date introduced new staff and discussed expanding engineering capacity as the stormwater utility grows.

At the meeting the commission welcomed a newly arrived staffer identified in the agenda as Luke, who described his background in environmental engineering technology and municipal engineering work with AECOM in Middleton. "I have a pretty pretty good background in water resource engineering and city engineering," Luke said during his introduction. Jeff Madigan, who said he has worked with the city’s Streets Department for more than two decades, also introduced himself and said he will take on stormwater-related duties.

Commission staff announced that the city had offered the stormwater utility technician position to Rich and that Rich "did accept it," a staff member said. The hire will be processed in the coming days.

Members discussed workload and budget timing. One member urged starting the 2026 budget earlier because the commission operates on a monthly cycle and has a large scope of work; another member recommended the next budget consider adding another engineer to handle growing demands. "We need another engineer around this place," one member said, urging the body to consider the position during next year’s budget process.

The commission also agreed to hire another engineering technician and to process the recently accepted hire. The meeting recorded a procedural motion to approve the March 19 minutes and the minutes were approved by voice vote earlier in the session.

The commission listed several future agenda items, including a monitoring-program presentation and a more detailed discussion of the stormwater ordinance and staffing, which the group said should be scheduled with enough time for substantive review.