City Commissioner have decided to move their work sessions to 4:30 p.m. and regular meetings to 6 p.m. in an effort to encourage public participation.
The commission currently holds work sessions at 5:30 p.m. and regular meetings at 7 p.m.
They meet the first and third Tuesday of every month.
The 7 p.m. meeting time was set by resolution in July 1981, which states that the commission has “determined that it is necessary to devote more time to work session periods prior to the official city commission meetings” and “feels it is in the best interests of the residents…to hold their meetings in the evenings to enable more residents to attend such meetings.
During their June 16 work session, Mayor Cory Reeves said they were tossing around the idea of changing the meeting times since public participation was most important.
Two reporters were the only non-city staff in the room.
Commissioner Shannon Wilson said shifting the meeting earlier would be more respectful of staff’s time so they aren’t working so late.
Commission meetings often go until 9 p.m., but depending on the agenda, some have gone to midnight during this reporter’s 13 years covering the city.
Commissioner Rick Tryon said he thought they started the work sessions at 5:30 p.m. to give the working public time to come and participate since many work until 5 p.m.
Commissioner Casey Schreiner said that many people who come to the meetings are doing so on behalf of their employers and in a professional capacity.
He said 7 p.m. in 1981 “was very different than it is today” and that no matter what time the meeting is, if there’s a controversial issue on the agenda, people will show up.
The regular agenda that evening included setting a public hearing on the proposed annexation for a Little Shell housing development. About two dozen people attended the 7 p.m. meeting to comment on that item, which was last on the agenda.
Whenever the meeting is held, it will likely shift the demographics of who can attend, he said.
Commissioner Joe McKenney said they may unintentionally restrict the people who are able to serve as commissioners if they shift meetings earlier and many residents work during the day so meetings are in the evening.
Schreiner said that as a commissioner with a day job, some people will be engaged and show up whenever the meetings are and there’s no data to drive their decision, but he didn’t think it would narrow the number of people who will participate or run for commission.
Wilson said many of the organizations she belongs to in town shifted their meetings from 7 p.m. to 6 p.m. since it was more convenient and that she thinks more people will attend a 6 p.m. meeting.
Reeves said he’d like to change the meeting times to see if they get a better public turnout.
“If it flops, we’ll go back and do something different,” he said.
Commissioners directed staff to draft a resolution to change their meeting times, which will be considered at a future meeting. Until then, work sessions are at 5:30 p.m. and the regular meeting is at 7 p.m.
