No 2007 Calendar Yet
With an incomplete budget and major redevelopment decisions looming, the City Council stalled Tuesday on a more fundamental issue: When to meet.
Last April, the council departed from a decades-old schedule that called for meetings on the first and third Mondays of each month, with agenda sessions on the preceding Mondays. The new schedule called for agenda sessions on Mondays and voting meetings on Wednesdays with a week off in between.
But in practice, that schedule proved to be unworkable, because it left the City Clerk’s office barely more than a day of turnaround time between agenda and regular meetings.
Given three choices – the traditional way, the 2006 experiment or a new plan for Wednesday agenda sessions with Monday regular meetings a week later – the council reached no consensus Tuesday.
Why Tuesday? Because every time there is a federal holiday on Monday that conflicts with the schedule, the current plan calls for an agenda session Tuesday and regular meeting Thursday, which often causes conflicts with Board of Adjustment and Planning Board meetings.
Councilman Harold Gibson took the lead Tuesday to call for a return to the traditional Monday-only schedule, saying it gives the City Clerk’s office the time needed to prepare for the meetings. Councilman Don Davis concurred, saying it would be “reverting back to what’s worked.”
But Councilman Rashid Burney, City Council President Rayland Van Blake and Councilman Elliott Simmons all said they liked having a week off between meetings.
“To me, having a week off gives me a lot of time to think through things,” Burney said.
Simmons said he likes to week off to spend time with his family, especially his 14-year-old daughter. When committee work is added on, he said, the weekly schedule “complicates my life.”
Councilwoman Linda Carter said she could live with either the traditional Monday schedule or the proposed Wednesday-Monday plan, but condemned the 2006 innovation.
Due to lack of a consensus, the council is stuck with the plan they don’t like. But to add to the confusion, the legal notice in Sunday’s Courier News mixed up the dates. After Feb. 20, the schedule in the newspaper switches all the regular meetings and agenda sessions to the wrong days.
In light of the controversy, resident Dottie Gutenkauf asked when the next council meeting would take place, but got no answer. Resident Brenda Gilbert said last year’s innovation was “confusing to citizens” and suggested reverting to the traditional schedule.
Under the schedule nobody likes, the regular meeting is 8 p.m. Thursday in Municipal Court, 325 Watchung Ave.Court, 325 Watchung Ave. It promises to be a short meeting, because big items including a proposed $7 million bond ordinance for road improvements and a major redevelopment agreement with the Union County Improvement Authority were withdrawn Tuesday.
--Bernice Paglia
Last April, the council departed from a decades-old schedule that called for meetings on the first and third Mondays of each month, with agenda sessions on the preceding Mondays. The new schedule called for agenda sessions on Mondays and voting meetings on Wednesdays with a week off in between.
But in practice, that schedule proved to be unworkable, because it left the City Clerk’s office barely more than a day of turnaround time between agenda and regular meetings.
Given three choices – the traditional way, the 2006 experiment or a new plan for Wednesday agenda sessions with Monday regular meetings a week later – the council reached no consensus Tuesday.
Why Tuesday? Because every time there is a federal holiday on Monday that conflicts with the schedule, the current plan calls for an agenda session Tuesday and regular meeting Thursday, which often causes conflicts with Board of Adjustment and Planning Board meetings.
Councilman Harold Gibson took the lead Tuesday to call for a return to the traditional Monday-only schedule, saying it gives the City Clerk’s office the time needed to prepare for the meetings. Councilman Don Davis concurred, saying it would be “reverting back to what’s worked.”
But Councilman Rashid Burney, City Council President Rayland Van Blake and Councilman Elliott Simmons all said they liked having a week off between meetings.
“To me, having a week off gives me a lot of time to think through things,” Burney said.
Simmons said he likes to week off to spend time with his family, especially his 14-year-old daughter. When committee work is added on, he said, the weekly schedule “complicates my life.”
Councilwoman Linda Carter said she could live with either the traditional Monday schedule or the proposed Wednesday-Monday plan, but condemned the 2006 innovation.
Due to lack of a consensus, the council is stuck with the plan they don’t like. But to add to the confusion, the legal notice in Sunday’s Courier News mixed up the dates. After Feb. 20, the schedule in the newspaper switches all the regular meetings and agenda sessions to the wrong days.
In light of the controversy, resident Dottie Gutenkauf asked when the next council meeting would take place, but got no answer. Resident Brenda Gilbert said last year’s innovation was “confusing to citizens” and suggested reverting to the traditional schedule.
Under the schedule nobody likes, the regular meeting is 8 p.m. Thursday in Municipal Court, 325 Watchung Ave.Court, 325 Watchung Ave. It promises to be a short meeting, because big items including a proposed $7 million bond ordinance for road improvements and a major redevelopment agreement with the Union County Improvement Authority were withdrawn Tuesday.
--Bernice Paglia
posted by Bernice at 10:27 PM
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