Tweak council’s meeting structure

By The Gazette Editorial Board

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Ah, summer. When a city council's fancy apparently turns toward tweaking its meeting schedule.

Last year, the Cedar Rapids City Council decided to try holding its meetings every other week, instead of every week. In the end, that less hectic, necktie-loosened summertime meeting schedule became permanent policy.

This summer, the council has decided to experiment with its meeting times. Currently, the council meets at 5:30 p.m. every other Tuesday. But starting in June, alternating Tuesday meetings will start at either noon or 4:30 p.m.

It's temporary, but like last summer, it could become permanent.

Backers of the move, led by Mayor Ron Corbett, point out that the council used to meet in the morning years ago. The Linn County Board of Supervisors convenes its meetings bright and early, usually at 9 a.m. So meeting earlier is hardly a radical idea.

We don't oppose the schedule change. We do wonder whether the new start times will make it more difficult for many working citizens to witness the council conducting its business, although technology has made it easier than ever to make contact with council members and city leaders. There's also the issue of citizens having to pay for daytime parking.

Juggling times and days, however, doesn't get to the heart of our real issue with City Council meetings.

The tweak that's needed is finding a way to structure meetings so that high-profile issues capturing the public's attention can be dealt with up front, or at least at a predictable time.

For example, if the council is considering something that's clearly the subject of significant public discussion - a street closure, dog licensing, a tax issue, you name it - why not place that item as close as possible to the start of the meeting? Or set a time certain during the meeting for the council discussion or action on that issue to take place.

The ultimate goal should be to make it easier for time-starved citizens to monitor the issues they care most about without having to wade through hours of administrative underbrush.

The council has already made some welcome changes, such as creating two public comment times - one at the beginning of the council meeting for comment on agenda items and one at the end for comments on other issues. A once-rambling public comment period that often stretched for more than an hour before any businesses was conducted is now briefer and more focused.

We think the council deserves credit for trying to improve its efficiency and balance the workload of what is, theoretically, at least, a panel of part-time citizens. But we urge them to not lose focus on the public's right to watch its government work on important issues.

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