HAYDEN J EMRAH
WZBD.com
While there were plenty of agenda discussions for County Council officials in their November meeting, an impromptu discussion came about in regards to what time the council meets, and whether or not it would be beneficial to hold the meetings in the evening.
The discussion came about when the County Council approved their 2024 council meeting dates with resolution 2023-35, when Councilmember Cory Sprunger prompted the question, “I want to raise the question again, although it’s not that big a deal, I know we’ve talked about it a couple times over the years, is there interest in going to evenings so that the public can actually attend these meetings?”
Sprunger noted that the majority of surrounding county councils conduct their meetings in the evening, saying that Adams is the only municipal government that holds morning meetings in the area.
County Auditor Tony Mellencamp spoke on behalf of those employed by Adams County, many of which are required to attend the meetings for various approvals and requests for their departments, saying that moving the meetings to the evening would limit employee’s time with families, and might cause scheduling conflicts overall.
Councilmember Cathy Mitchel added that morning or evening meetings don’t make much of a difference to her, and that since the council meets once a month that it wouldn’t be as encumbering to county employees as it may seem.
Mellencamp also raised the point that in past discussions on the matter, it has been mentioned that the school board meetings for North Adams, Adams Central, and South Adams all take place the same day–that is the 2nd Tuesday of the month–as the county council, and changing the time could limit public turnout by having conflicting meeting times.
Discussions went back and forth, with good points being made for both sides. On one hand, moving the meetings to the evening would be a more convenient time for the public, even if it was more strenuous for county employees to attend. On the other side, various public meetings across Adams County, from city and town councils to department board meetings, see little-to-none public turnout, unless a particular issue has gained traction with residents.
Councilmember Cathy Mitchel pointed out that another reason for changing the meeting time would be to hold the county council after the county commissioners, who often have to wait for the county council to reconvene before approvals can be made. Changing the county council meetings to a time after the commissioner meetings could expedite the process of passing things the county council sees, as various aspects of local government must be seen by the county commissioners before going before the council.
Mitchel then stated that the commissioners used to meet on Mondays in the past, for which Commissioner Stan Stoppenhagen, who was in attendance along with the other commissioners, stated that the reason for moving their meetings to Tuesday was to accommodate the departments in the Service Complex, who need time to prepare and organize documentation for official meetings.
At some point, Councilmember Fred Velez suggested that the council could hold one or two evening meetings in 2024, just to see what public turnout would look like, and then go from there to make a decision. Others agreed with the idea, and discussions ended by approving the resolution for the 2024 meeting schedule, which will continue being held on the second Tuesday of every month at 8:30 a.m., with the potential for changing some of the meetings to the evening to test public turnout.
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