City of Evanston Blog
New City Council Meeting Times
The Evanston City Council's Rules Committee unanimously voted this week to change the meeting times for the Administration and Public Works (A&PW) Committee, Planning and Development (P&D) Committee and City Council meetings. The change in times would eliminate potentially long waiting periods between committee and Council meetings giving citizens a greater opportunity to participate in the process.
Previously, on nights of City Council meetings, the A&PW meeting would start at 5:30 p.m., the P&D meeting would start at 7:00 p.m. and the City Council meeting would begin at 8:30 p.m. regardless of the number of items on the agenda. Recently, the P&D meeting has adjourned nearly an hour prior to the actual 8:30 p.m. start time of Council and there would be a long wait time for Council and residents.
With the proposed changes, A&PW would still begin at 5:30 p.m. on City Council meeting nights but P&D would begin 15 minutes after the A&PW meeting's adjournment. Additionally, City Council meetings would begin 15 minutes after P&D adjourns, but no sooner than 7 p.m.
The change in the meeting structure would decrease the amount of down time between Committee and City Council meetings, allow for an earlier start time for Council meetings and increase public participation in the City Council process for those citizens who might want to participate but are unable to do so because of the late start time of the City Council.
The City Council will implement the new meeting structure this Monday, February 8 and will officially approve the change during the Council meeting.
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