Councilor Clinton Woods makes push for evening meetings to be held quarterly

Councilor Clinton Woods is hoping to bring a forward-thinking change to the way the city’s business is conducted.

In an effort to make local government more accessible to families and people who may not be able get off work to attend the regular 9:30 a.m. meetings on Tuesdays, Woods is proposing having quarterly meetings at 5:30 p.m., a total of four meetings a year.

“A lot of people want to be involved in local government,” Woods said, seated behind his desk. “Our Neighborhood Associations have great involvement. When it comes to having 9:30 a.m. meetings, some people don’t realize they have to arrive early and sign up to speak. A lot of the times they have to take off work or school or find someone to watch the kids and they’ll end up having to wait several hours until the speakers portion of the meeting. I think we can do better for the people who want to come participate.”

Woods said he believes that giving people more opportunities to let their voices be heard will benefit the entire city. “This is about being inclusive. People should have an opportunity to have their voice heard. I feel like the Council supports sending that message to the residents,” Woods said.

Due to the fact that the Mayor-Council Act dictates the Council must meet at a regularly scheduled time each Tuesday, Woods plans to introduce three separate ordinances setting a special-called time for the remaining three quarterly meetings in 2019 (there was no special-called meeting in the first quarter).

“At the end of the year we’ll be able to evaluate if we’re seeing an increase in participation. Are we seeing new people getting engaged? Is this working better for us?” Woods said. “We want to see how many first-time attendees we have at these meetings. Right now 9:30 a.m. is a barrier for a lot of residents.”

Echo Highlands Neighborhood President William Harden said he would like to see all meetings held at a time when more people can attend. “It’s something I’ve heard my neighbors complain a lot about over the years, not being able to go to more meetings. Potentially you’re having to take off for an entire day of work to get to speak for three minutes at the end of the meeting. Kudos to Councilor Woods for pushing to make this happen,” Harden said.

The first meeting to be held in the evening, according to the ordinance, will be on April 30, 2019 at 5:30 p.m., if the item is approved during Tuesday’s meeting.