Middleton Mayor Gurdip Brar Reflects on His Terms as Mayor: Guided by Science and Compassion
Mayor Gurdip Brar, in the Middleton Common Council chambers, sought to be independent, use science and listen to the will of all of the people in Middleton.
Part 2 of 2
By Jonathan Gramling
I have known Gurdip Brar for over 20 years, several years before he entered Middleton politics. I found him to be a kind man, dedicated to community. Brar had volunteered a lot in the Middleton schools before he ran for office. In fact, it was his desire to serve that led him to first run for office, having been urged on by friends and neighbors. He four full three terms as an alder before successfully running for mayor in 2016.
Similar to the cities of Fitchburg and Sun Prairie, there is a city administrator who manages the day-to-day affairs of the city while the mayor steers the city’s policies and direction as the chair of the city council, plan commission and the community development authority while also chairing the Tax Incremental Finance District. But the most important relationship he had was with the city administrator and department heads.
“To begin with, I had a meeting with the city administrator and all of the department heads,” Brar said. “I wanted to get to know them and see what the issues were and tell them what the constituents wanted. And then I would meet with the city administrator every week. I would have a list for him of what the constituents thought were the priorities. I would go around the city to ask people what their needs were. I would usually communicate through the city administrator. But there were times when I thought it was more expedient just to talk with the department heads. I think I was a little bit more flexible. I would talk with the department heads as well. I would send an email to them and talk with the city administrator.”
Brar brought his scientific approach to keeping in touch with his constituents. He would combine his walking exercise with randomly selected paths throughout the city so that he could see what was going on and talk to the citizens he would meet along the way. And he purposively worked to keep his campaign promises.
Chief among them was to improve the streets of Middleton. He brought a scientific approach to improving the roads.
“I spent almost six months studying the roads in terms of how they are very tender, why they are as bad as they are,” Brar said. “I talked to the public works engineers to figure out what the issues were. One of the issues was we weren’t spending money. So we doubled the budget because roads are not going to get rebuilt by themselves. We now have about 74 miles of roads. Roads last only so long. I also found out how to have better roads inexpensively. There were certain steps that we needed to take. To keep them in good shape, you fill the cracks before they become a problem. You seal them. If you take that first step, the water doesn’t go into the pavement and your roads will last longer.”
They also found a sealant GSB-88 that is sprayed on new roads to prevent cracks from forming and getting larger. And they also developed a long-term plan that will eventually lower the cost per mile in terms of long-term maintenance.
Snow plowing can also be a big issue.
“Our staff is absolutely amazing,” Brar said. “This year, I only got two snow plowing complaints. One was on Stonefield Road. It was taken care of right away. And the other was in the community of Bishop’s Bay. They have an expectation that their roads should be plowed as soon as possible. Otherwise, you can see that if no one is complaining, it means they are okay.”
Green spaces are also important to the quality of life that residents experience. And Brar was determined to preserve them — even in the case of high flooding.
“Twenty-five percent of Middleton is green space,” Brar noted. “People love Middleton because we have the parks and nature conservancies, Pheasant Branch, all of those things. That was very important, even where we live right on the pond. We have four ponds. They are called kettle ponds. They were created by the glaciers. Those ponds also make the city very beautiful. Maintaining those ponds and the conservancies was and remains very important. Two ponds have a complete circle around them. And with the two other ponds, you can’t go around them, but you can go around most of them. And if you have been to the Pheasant Branch conservancy, it is miles and miles of trails. The conservancy’s nature is very important. When we had the floods, we received $900,000 from the county and we also had to apply for a $600,000 grant from the WI DNR.”
One of the biggest complaints Brar receives is when the trash and recycling bins are not placed properly after they have been emptied.
“The biggest complaint which I have found sometimes is when they have those trash cans, when they pick up the trash, they aren’t closed,” Brar said. “That’s the most common complaint that we have. And I don’t think that is that bad. They were just in a hurry. So I talked with them and I haven’t heard complaints. Sometimes when I am just walking around, if I see one open, I close it. It depends on the level that the trash can is sitting on and all of those things. So you can see, the expectations get higher and higher, which is good. It’s not that their trash didn’t get picked up. It’s that their trash can wasn’t placed properly. That’s a good problem to have.”
Brar was also able to keep the tax rates low, in part, because Middleton is booming with two active TIF districts. And Brar sought to put measures in place to keep Middleton booming.
“I was very passionate for bringing new businesses, especially high-technology businesses, to Middleton,” Brar said. “I worked very hard, nearly two years on it. What I found is that when people have started a business at a critical place, to get them to move is very hard. Some people employed have homes close by and all of that. We were able to get some businesses, but not as many as we wanted. But what I wanted later on was to have a growth incubator in Middleton so that the people start businesses here and they will stay here. We worked on that for a while, but it did not happen the way that we had hoped. We are still working on it. We haven’t given up. It almost happened, but one of the parties pulled out. But they are starting back on it again.”
Clean air and sustainability were important to Brar.
“I helped start the sustainability committee in 2008,” Brar said. “We have 5-7 megawatt solar cells at the airport. At that time, they were the biggest in Wisconsin. And then we got one 500 kilowatt station at the municipal operations center. All new buildings have to have the solar panels on them. Also we have a program where you help the citizens reduce their use of water. Our sustainability committee is very strong. They do a lot of things. And of course, you want to get the homeowners to somehow get their mobile homes become more energy efficient.”
The accomplishment of which Brar is most proud is the diversification of the city’s committees and commissions where 95 percent of the city’s policies and initiatives are crafted. While the vast majority of the members were white men from primarily two aldermanic districts, Brar leaves office with more voices at the table.
“I started with gender equity,” Brar said. “That was number one. The second was that if someone had already served more than 10 years, let’s give someone else a chance. There was complete resistance. They did not want to leave their committees. The third was to have more minorities on the committees. The percentage of the community that is Black is less than five percent. But we have Blacks on the city committees now. One was on the police commission, but she moved out of Middleton. About four weeks ago, I had to let her go. She is also on the county board. But then we have one on the library board and one on the public safety commission. We have people who are Latinx, Chinese, and the South Indian region. The committees are balanced in terms of gendered. The committees are balanced for race and ethnic groups. I don’t like to use the term race because we are all the same. Above all, they are balanced for the whole city.”
While Brar is “retiring” as mayor of Middleton, he is not retiring from community service. He has his eye on working to increase reading and math proficiency in Wisconsin’s public schools. With Brar’s commitment, scientific approach and “can do” attitude, who knows what the future may bring.
