Aberdeen City Council meeting changes being proposed

City Council meetings in Aberdeen could be starting earlier, and ending sooner.

A discussion item was placed onto the Aberdeen City Council agenda on Wednesday at the request of City Administrator Ruth Clemens following discussions.

It was stated at the meeting that some council members had expressed concern about the start time and duration of City Council meetings, stating that they begin too late and run too far into the evening.

The request was to make a number of changes to the meeting procedures.

RECOMMENDATION(S):

• Change the start time of Council meetings from 7:15 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
• Eliminate the Committee of the Whole meeting prior to the regular meeting.
• Incorporate a Consent Agenda.
• Commitment to adhere to Robert’s Rules during meetings.
• Limit Council meetings to 2 hours with the option to motion for additional time.
• Change the times and dates of the Public Safety and Finance committee meetings.

Council President Kati Kachman said that the change to remove the Committee of the Whole and incorporate those items into the regular meeting would be for timing reasons.

A recommendation to limit council comments and topic discussions to 3 minutes per person, similar to public comments, was removed from the recommendations. 

A draft of changes to the agenda will be brought back to the council at a future meeting at the start of the year and will be open to public comment at that time.