Check out a video excerpt from this interview here.

A vocal official on city issues, Ald. Shiva Bidar-Sielaff, District 5, recently secured the position of Madison’s City Council president by a unanimous vote. Bidar-Sielaff has been a part of City Council since 2009 and served as the council president pro tem last year but has been actively involved in city affairs since her arrival to Madison in 1997.

In an interview with The Badger Herald, Bidar-Sielaff talked about her guiding agenda for the council’s next session and whether she plans to run for the city’s highest leadership position.

The Badger Herald: What are your personal connections to the city?

Shiva Bidar-Sielaff: I actually started my work serving on city committees. When I first moved to Madison, I had heard this was a city with a love of citizen engagement, and I wanted to make sure I was contributing in some way to the city. I served on the Public Health Commission at the time. My work has always been around social service advocacy, and I figured that continuing to being involved in city policy-making was an important piece of that. I was also a member of the Police and Fire Commission for five years.

BH: As president, what are some specific goals you want to focus on?

Bidar-Sielaff: Developing a council agenda is one we’ve been talking about, coming up with two or three issues that the council wants to work toward as a whole, … like social services and issues with poverty, homelessness and housing in the city. It’s never been done before. I also think continuing to provide the council with regular updates about discussions with the mayor. That’s one of the main roles of the president, is to be the link between the legislative and executive branch.

BH: As an alder for Madison’s District 5 near the University of Wisconsin campus, what student issues have you addressed, and will those issues take priority during your time as president?

Bidar-Sielaff: That was one of the reasons I ran for City Council. Having worked a lot with students, I found that oftentimes their voices weren’t being heard at the city level. I’ve served on the Alcohol License Review Committee, dealing with issues around finding a good balance between entertainment within our city for young people and finding ways to make sure we don’t have the kind of alcohol binge-drinking that leads to safety issues for our students. I’ve been also quite involved in the discussion of housing issues, whether it is the quality of housing, making sure students understand their rights and making sure that we have good policies in line for appropriate housing for students. One other issue that’s come up is this whole issue of ID requirements and what kind of IDs are required for entering alcohol license establishments. I certainly have been an advocate to make sure that we encourage all license establishments to accept a wide variety of IDs.

BH: Would you ever consider running for mayor?

Bidar-Sielaff: At this point, it’s not something that I’ve considered seriously. I wouldn’t say no, but I certainly wouldn’t say that’s my goal. It’s important to do whatever job you have, so instead of thinking about the next one, I’m thinking about my job as president of the Common Council.