City Council Meetings

[Adam Benefield]

Council Members,

For our upcoming June 5th Work Session, I’ve submitted an item to discuss how we can make our City Council meetings more efficient; specifically, how we might shorten meeting length where possible without compromising transparency or due process.

Both Council and Staff bring a wealth of institutional knowledge, and I believe there are straightforward, practical changes we can implement that will benefit everyone involved. If you’ve seen effective strategies used in other municipalities, or have ideas of your own, please come prepared to share or feel free to start the conversation here in this discussion forum ahead of the meeting.

Looking forward to your input.

 

[Shane Saum]

Council Members,

For our upcoming June 5th Work Session, I’ve submitted an item to discuss how we can make our City Council meetings more efficient; specifically, how we might shorten meeting length where possible without compromising transparency or due process.

Both Council and Staff bring a wealth of institutional knowledge, and I believe there are straightforward, practical changes we can implement that will benefit everyone involved. If you’ve seen effective strategies used in other municipalities, or have ideas of your own, please come prepared to share or feel free to start the conversation here in this discussion forum ahead of the meeting.

Looking forward to your input.

Thank you Councilman Benefield. I look forward to this item. One of the hopes I had when I brought this Discussion Board forward was that Councilmembers could engage in discussion on here on agenda items prior to being on the dais. If there were concerns, they could be made here and then they wouldn't need to be had in the dais, thus saving us time. I hope if something is shared on here, it isn't necessary to repeat it out there, especially if members come to an agreement and changes are made.

 

[Paul Roberts]

Thank you, Adam, for bringing this forward. I agree that we should always be looking for ways to improve the efficiency of our meetings, provided we don't compromise transparency or the opportunity for public input.

I also echo Shane’s remarks about the value of this discussion board. It's a great tool for early coordination, and I think we could all benefit from using it more regularly to surface questions or concerns before we’re on the dais. That said, I do think it’s important that we reserve final positions until we’ve heard public comments and completed formal deliberation during the meeting.

One area where I believe we can gain efficiency is through broader use of the Consent Agenda. Public hearings obviously don’t belong there, but just because an item appears on Consent doesn’t mean it’s not receiving scrutiny. If a Councilmember has a question that isn’t answered by the cover sheet or packet, it can always be pulled. Using Consent for more straightforward items—referrals, noncontroversial appointments, standard contract renewals, etc.—can help us avoid unnecessary posturing and keep meetings moving.

As one example, I just submitted an item that simply refers a code amendment to P&Z and BSC. In my view, that's an ideal candidate for Consent. If there's a need to discuss it further, it can be pulled. Otherwise, we don’t need to debate the merits of initiating a review process.

Looking forward to the discussion on June 5.