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5 <br />issues that the public is present for. So that there would b e some <br />order to the proceedings, any items moved up through waiver should be <br />addressed in the order found on the agenda. This procedure can not <br />be used with public hearings, and should probably be considered only <br />after public hearings are held. <br />7 o'clock Beginning Time <br />Historically the City Council meetings have begun at 8 p.m. <br />Until the advent of the open meeting law, however, staff and Council <br />frequently met at 7 p.m. before Council mee tings. Currently, several <br />staff members are present at 7 p.m. to respond to questions from <br />individual Council members. From the staff perspective therefore, a <br />7 p.m. meeting time would create no problems. By providing an <br />additional hour it is presumed that meetings would end earlier in the <br />evening or mo re business could be conducted. This would be determined <br />by the Council. Additionally, the public present should be able to <br />have their business attended to more repidly and therefore be able to <br />leave sooner. <br />Summary <br /> <br /> <br />None of the above format changes are mutually exclusive. There <br />is no sure way of knowing the degree to which they would meet the <br />various goals. They could be utilized on an experimental basis to gauge <br />their impact, and then continued or abandoned. For experimental <br />control purposes they should initially be tried with the existing two <br />regular meetings per month schedule' <br />Additional Meetings <br />A wide range of meeting variations are possible. They are all <br />prer;~ised on the assumption that even if agenda format changes are made, <br />there is not enough time for the Council to conduct its business. This <br />assumption is somewhat borne out when one considers the large number of <br />special meetings called annually by the Council. <br />Special Meetings <br />A system could be developed more fully utilizing the special <br />meeting concept. Currently special meetings are used for budgets <br />(capital and operational), for special considerations that take a good <br />deal of time (i.e., sign ordinance), and for joint meetings with boards <br />and commissions. Each of these meetings is called for a specific <br />purpose. The use of special meetings could be expanded so that they <br />became "regular" special meetings. In other words, one specific <br />meeting time could be set aside each month for special purposes. Those <br />issues now the subject of special meetings would be considered at these <br />meetings. Additionally, business could be continued from regular <br />meetings to the special meeting if it appeared to be an issue that would <br />