City Council needs better focus at public meetings City Council needs better focus at public meetings (November 18, 2005)

Mayor Jennifer Hosterman wants to shorten City Council meetings or at least make sure that all matters on the agenda are handled before the council packs up and goes home, which lately has been well past 11 p.m. We wish her well. These long, unfinished council meetings are a physical drain on all who have to participate and a disservice to the public that is watching. Take last Tuesday's meeting, which lasted well past the 11 p.m. curfew that Hosterman wants to set, which would advance the 11:30 cut-off that the council mandated years ago unless there is a vote to continue. On Tuesday, the first 45 minutes of the meeting were spent on non-agenda presentations of awards, public recognitions and public speakers. Added to that were three weighty issues that were continued from the Nov. 1 meeting because time ran out about 11:30 and at least one council member was too tired to continue. By that time, most attendees who had filled the council chamber earlier had gone home, except for those waiting to comment on the issues or present their reports, including Finance Director Sue Rossi. At 11:30, they were told to go home, too, and to come back Nov. 15 and try again.

Hosterman is not alone in facing this dilemma. Other mayors have tried different techniques to keep the wheels of city government moving smoothly. Former Mayor Tom Pico, seeing a roomful of constituents all wanting to comment on the same side of a proposed issue, would call a recess so that they could choose one or two to speak for them. That happened to Jerry Thorne, now on the City Council, when he was advocating a new swimming pool and shepherded a group of swimmers to a council meeting to share their enthusiasm. At the mayor's pleading, he agreed to be the only speaker, asking the roomful of youths to raise their hands if they agreed. It worked better than if each had spoken, and they got their pool. Thorne later used that same tactic during the two terms he served as chairman of the Parks and Recreation Commission. Livermore Mayor Marshall Kamena takes a heavy-handed approach, telling speakers to leave the lectern when the three-minute bell goes off, even if they're in mid-sentence.

Hosterman is kinder, often allowing speakers to go past their five-minute speaking limit before the council. She warmly welcomes those with non-Council issues to address the council and, since council meetings are televised on Channel 29, those in the community who are watching. As compassionate as this is, it also leaves less time for "doing the business of the city," which she calls her most important objective. Perhaps with so much on its plate, the council should meet earlier than 7 p.m., as it does when conducting workshops that start at 6:30 p.m. That might assure those who are on the night's agenda that their issues will be heard, even if they're placed as No. 3a or 6d. Recently, those listed as No. 3 don't have that assurance.

Last Tuesday, Hosterman also asked council members, themselves, to shorten their questions to the staff or seek answers and clarifications before the meetings. That shouldn't be difficult since the council receives packets with all of the staff reports no later than on Fridays before the next meeting. A review of Channel 29's rebroadcast of the Nov. 1 meeting showed about an hour of that type of council-staff dialogue, enough time to have handled all of the items that were continued to last Tuesday - with enough left over to have met Hosterman's goal of shutting down by 11 p.m. at both of the last two council meetings.

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