On July 25, we posted: "More Frequent, Better Balanced Oro Valley Council Meetings Required." In it, we stated the following: "We've noticed an erratic pattern to the duration (in minutes at left) of Mayor Hiremath's 41 Town Council Meetings. The meetings have run from a low of 33 minutes (7-21-11) to a high of over 6 hours (12-7-11).
Last Wednesday's, the Mayor Hiremath led Oro Valley Town Council Meeting set a record. It lasted almost 8 hours. It started at 5 PM, continuing past midnight. Incredible? It really does stand out:
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What difference does it make how long the council meetings run?
It makes a difference because Town Council meetings are open meetings. They are the time in which the Council makes its decisions. Oro Valley governance is open to the public.
Unpredictably long meetings discourage public attendance. Waiting hours for your turn to comment in a public hearing is infeasible for most, so public hearing input is not heard. This, for example, happened with last Wednesday's public hearing on a possible general plan energy element addition. The room was virtually empty when the topic was discussed six hours into the meeting.
Long, arduous meetings also reduce the effectiveness of council members. Some are simply worn down after sitting for so many hours. Council meetings should not be a personal endurance test!
Research has shown that an "ideal meeting length" of 45 minutes maximizes attention. Its all "downhill" after that. Obviously, Oro Valley Town Council meetings are going to run longer than that because they is so much to cover.
Perhaps, there should be a time limit. Perhaps the meetings should be timed to run no longer than four hours. Perhaps the mayor should schedule more meetings. There were, after all, only 16 meetings in 2012! There was no reason for him to cram three major general plan amendment requests, plus a ton of other decisions into one meeting in the month of December when two meetings are required. Yes. We know it's the holiday season. Still, the business of the town must go on and thoughtful decisions must be made.
We repeat our call for: "More Frequent, Better Balanced Oro Valley Council Meetings."
5 comments:
Let's not forget about the Town employees who have to work these Council meetings. It's unacceptable to expect them to work under these conditions. The meeting of 12/7 was ridiculously long. Not only did they work that day, but they came back to work the next morning. Excuse me, the same morning the meeting ended.
These lengthy mtgs clearly discourage parents with children from attending. How can parents get involved with the Town business when it involves being out of the home for an entire evening & payment for a babysitter (who likely has to get up for school the next morning?) Also discourages the elderly who don't like to be out that late. Perhaps that is the point: discourage attendance so TC can ignore pesky citizen input & do as they choose?
And yes, it is absurd to keep Town employees out that late & expect them to work regular hrs the following day. Most inconsiderate!
Council meetings lasting 4, 5, 6 or even 8 hours due to numerous items being placed on one agenda can mean only one of two things:
(1) As others have noted, it is to discourage as many people as possible from attending so that the mayor doesn't have to listen to citizen input, or...
(2) It is the result of poor management skills on the part of the mayor.
Either way, it doesn't look good for Hiremath.
The meeting lengths are not fair to anybody and likely it is hard to make a good decision when you have been in a 7 hour meeting. I do have a question/idea--- can any of the council people make a motion for meeting adjourn at any time during a meeting?
Chuck,
Yes, any member of the council can make a motion to adjorn and reconvene at a future date and time that is in compliance with public notification laws. The motion must be seconded and then pass with a majority vote.
When meetings go beyond four (4) hours it's time for a break. Exhaustingly long meetings serve no one.
Agendas that put controversial items toward the bottom of the agenda beg the question: Will the concerned citizens leave by the time we decide this issue?
A reasonable agenda is the duty of the Agenda Setting Committee which always includes the Mayor. Some leadership and consideration of the public and staff is in order.
It's my opinion, Council policy should require meetings to end NO LATER than 10:00 pm. If town business is unfinished, publically set a date and time to reconvene.
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