Marathon Meetings

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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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Yes. The length of council meetings during the Hiremath years varies substantially. One can expect to be sitting in council from less than an hour to five hours. Occasionally, an even longer stay is required:

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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."

Fireworks Tonight At Town Hall?

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There could be fireworks at tonight's Oro Valley Town Council meeting.  A discussion of four items on tonight's Oro Valley Town Council Meeting Agenda should make things interesting. You might want to attend; or, at a minimum, watch the live feed via the Town Of Oro Valley web site.

First, there's item D on the consent agenda. This would replace town attorney Tobin Rosen with an interim town attorney.   What makes this interesting is that Tobin Rosen is not retiring until January; and that he has agreed to remain on staff to aid in a transition after that point.  In essence then, Tobin Rosen is being relieved of his duties if this agenda item is approved.  We understand that finding a new attorney to replace Tobin will take time.  There is no reason that we foresee why that process can't start immediately, while Tobin is the active Town Attorney.

Second, there is the public hearing on the Innovation Park Economic Expansion Zone fast track approval process.  This is item 3A on the regular agenda.  You should expect discussion of adding a requirement that there be at least one public hearing for all such projects.  The Oro Valley Planning and Zoning staff recommendation as approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission includes no such hearing requriement; even though residents have spoken of the need for it at neighborhood meetings and at the Planning and Zoning Commission hearing on it.  Their pleas have been ignored. So much for the value of community input as perceived by some who work at town hall.

Third, there is approval of two additional monument signs for the Fry's Gas station.  These signs would be located along LaCanada and Lambert Lane.  This is item 4 on the regular agenda.  Talk about overkill.  Does a "Town Of Excellence" really need five monument signs in one area?  Did sign's help The Loop survive? Did signs help "Down Home Delight's" Survive?  The answer, of course, is no.  The Fry's gas station will be a destination store because one can get discounts on gas.  Therefore, people will find it.

Fourth, there is item 6 on the main agenda. This item will change the way Council Members can add items to the council's agenda.

Recall last week we posted how items get on the Oro Valley town council agenda. Three days after this posting, we learned that there are some on council who want to change this process. They want to make it more difficult for you and for you those in the minority on council to get an item on the agenda.

In essence, implementing item 6 would meant that four members of council need to approve an item for addition to the agenda and not two.  The result is that minority members of council will likely not be able to add agenda items.   We don't see a need to change a procedure that is not broken. Its not as if Council Members are requesting to add frivolous items.  It would be best if this change would simply "die a quiet death."

Perhaps there will be some health disagreements among council members on these four items.  Perhaps, some "fireworks".  We will be there. We hope that you are too.
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