Regarding changing the council meeting time to 6 pm.
I have been trying to get people to the BPAC (bicycle) meetings for years.
EVERYONE tells me that they are either not home in time or have a family to tend to and 6 pm is too early.
I have literally succeeded a whopping 1 time to get someone to attend and now this person no longer attends because they can’t get their family taken care of by 6 pm.
The first (or possibly 2nd) BPAC meeting with your new 5 person board had changing the meeting time from 6 to 7 pm on the agenda.
Rafat was there and brought up this topic. 2 members wanted the meeting time to be at 7, 2 did not care and the 5th person didn’t want to vote because they would be the deciding vote and didn’t want to be responsible. I kid you not. Nothing changed.
Most important, I understand not wanting to be a participant and having to wait for hours until you get to a topic.
Making the meeting at 6 pm is not going to get anyone done faster, but perhaps earlier.
Your analysis says …”Often times City Council meetings can be conducted late into the evening requiring our community members to stay at City hall until as late as 11:00 pm to provide public comments on the agenda items that are later on the agenda.”
So just like this item is second to last on the agenda for tonight, perhaps you can put items we are passionate about, like this, and that affect a large majority of residents higher up on your list. That will make it so more people can attend and not have to stay as long.
I attended the San Pedro Road Coalition Community Meeting on Saturday, November 4th. Mayor Kate and Marybeth were there. I brought 3 copies of this report with me to the meeting to see if anyone there actually heard about the change of time for the council meetings and what their thoughts were. Only 2 of the 12 that I spoke to said they were aware of it. The first I heard of it is when Kate mentioned it in passing at the last BPAC meeting.
I read something which said it was previously brought up in 2 council meetings but I don’t recall hearing it as I am POSITIVE, I would not have forgotten this because I have a hard time getting to anything earlier than 7 pm and thought perhaps the BPAC was finally going to change to 7 pm when I saw it on their agenda. I am not saying it was not brought up. I am saying I did not hear it being brought up apparently in 2 different council meetings.
Out of the 12 people that I spoke to at meeting this past Saturday, 10 people told me they could not possibly attend a meeting earlier than 7 pm because some were not home from work yet and others mentioned dinner for their family.
Literally 1 person told me it was not a problem. What I heard the most is why are the topics (we are most passionate about) usually done at the end of the meetings. I have the same question.
Why can’t items we are passionate about that affect so many of us, just like this topic, be put NOT so close to or at the end of the Agenda? A perfect time would be after the City Manager speaks and the Council talks of the meetings they attended and what they have learned.
PLEASE consider this or some alternative. Starting earlier does not guarantee participants will get out earlier. Putting the agenda item toward the top clearly lets people out earlier than if it is at the end.
Thank you,
Lori Schifrin