Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout18 - Summer Meeting ScheduleCITY OF NEWPORT BEACH AGENDA ITEM NO. 18 TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS QF THE CITY COUNCIL FROM: Homer L. Bludau, City Manager DATE: September 12, 2000 SUBJECT: SUMMER MEETING SCHEDULE ISSUE Should the City Council alter its summer meeting schedule to allow for better coordination between Council meetings and summer vacation plans? RECOMMENDATION That the City Council's August meeting schedule be altered to allow better coordination between Council meetings and summer vacation plans for Council and staff. BACKGROUND The Newport Beach City Council holds regular Council meetings twice monthly, on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month. Council Member Dennis O'Neil has raised the issue of whether Council should alter its summer meeting dates to allow better coordination of summer meetings and vacation schedules. Should Council want to pursue this idea, there are several alternative schedules Council may want to consider: a) One meeting in either July or August. For example, if this year Council had held only its first scheduled regular meeting in July or August, those meetings would have been on July 11th and August 12th. The time between meetings would be four weeks. b) Going dark one month. For example, if both August regular meetings were cancelled, the space of time without meetings would have been July 25th to September 12th, a period of six weeks. A telephone survey of cities within the County provided the following results: Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Santa Ana and Tustin - no change in summer scheduled meetings City Hall • 3300 Newport Boulevard • Post Office Box 1768 • Newport Beach, California 92659 -1768 -2- Irvine and Laguna Beach - only one August meeting Fullerton - dark one meeting during summer, decided by Council The potential benefits of a reduced summer meeting schedule include: Council and staff can plan vacation time around the cancelled meeting, perhaps resulting in greater Council attendance at summer meetings; a longer time for staff to get issues to the point of bringing them to Council; summer meetings which are "fuller" of decision - making issues for Council to deal with; and a long lead time for vacation planning. The potential negative aspects include: applicants and issues having to wait longer before they are brought before Council due to altered schedule; may not affect summer vacation planning by Council and staff resulting in some meetings without full Council; confusion on the part of the public as to the regular meeting schedule. The City Manager recommends the City Council try an altered schedule in August 2001 by canceling its second regularly scheduled meeting. If experience shows this schedule creates a hardship, the Council can always change back to the current summer meeting schedule.