Councillors look to rescind meeting start time ordinance

  An ordinance approved by the City Council last year ensuring that no City Council meetings begin before 5 p.m. may be having some unintended consequences. Ward 6 Councillor Richard Serino presented the ordinance to the City Council last year as a way to increase public participation at municipal meetings. But last week, City Council President Anthony Zambuto presented a motion to rescind the ordinance.

  Councillor-at-Large Jessica Giannino said she understands Serino’s motivation for wanting the later meeting start times, but said it has caused issues scheduling some City Council subcommittee meetings in a timely manner. “As a chairperson for a committee, I had to wait three months to get a subcommittee meeting for my public safety committee, because when you limited the meetings to five o’clock, we only have one hour to conduct city business on certain days,” Giannino said. The subcommittee meeting schedule would often quickly get booked up with zoning and ways and means subcommittee meetings with more pressing business, she said.

  “Although it was incredibly well intended, I couldn’t have a meeting for public safety, and Councillor [Steven] Morabito had a motion that sat in my committee tied up for months,” Giannino said, adding that it was difficult to get a quorum for the subcommittee meeting she tried to schedule on a day other than Monday.

  “We need to come up with a solution that is appropriate in making sure our residents have accessibility,” she said, which could include more options for remote participation.

  Serino said he understands that there has been a backlog of subcommittee meetings, but said he believes it is possible to get a quorum for meetings on nights other than Mondays. He also said there have been some issues with getting the City Council Chambers booked for meetings on nights other than Mondays, when the City Council holds their regular meetings, because other boards and commissions use the City Council Chambers for their meetings. Serino suggested that there might be other public meeting space that can be used by other boards and committees.

  “No offense to any other public bodies, but I think our public body and our Chambers should take precedence over any other body,” said Serino. “We regard to not getting quorum, I think if a meeting were after 5 p.m. on another night, you would still be able to get councillors, maybe not everybody, on a given committee. This is something I do feel strongly about, and I will not be voting to repeal it.”

  Zambuto said his motion was not an attack on Serino, but he said the City Council needs to look at some ways to be flexible with meeting times. The issue will be discussed further at a future legislative affairs subcommittee meeting, Zambuto said.