Town Hall Meetings Move to Evenings So More Residents Can Speak

Public meetings at City Hall will start at 6:30 p.m. beginning next month, after the council voted 7–2 to move them out of the workday. For as long as most residents can remember, the council has gathered at 2 p.m. on the first and third Tuesday of each month, a schedule that suited retirees, lobbyists and city staff but left out almost everyone else.

Supporters say afternoon meetings left out parents, shift workers and anyone with a nine-to-five job. The vote, taken at the end of a long Tuesday afternoon session, is one of the most significant changes to how the city does business in decades, and it comes with a price tag that two council members said the budget cannot easily absorb.

Why the time mattered

The push for evening meetings began last year, when a group of neighborhood associations collected signatures asking the council to reconsider its schedule. Their argument was simple: if the meeting happens while most people are at work, most people cannot participate. Residents who wanted to speak on a zoning change or a road project often had to take unpaid time off, find child care or simply give up.

At recent afternoon meetings, the public comment period frequently drew only a handful of speakers, many of them familiar faces. Council members acknowledged that the voices they heard most often were not always representative of the city as a whole. Younger residents, renters and working parents were noticeably absent.

“We make decisions about people’s streets, parks and property taxes,” said council member Diane Foster, who sponsored the change. “And we were making them at an hour when the people most affected couldn’t be in the room.”

More ways to join

Every meeting will also stream live, and residents can sign up to speak by phone from home. The city already records its meetings and posts them online, but the new plan adds a live stream with closed captions and a call-in line for public comment. Residents who want to speak by phone can register online or by calling the city clerk’s office by noon on the day of the meeting.

Supporters say the phone option matters as much as the new start time. Some residents work evening shifts, care for family members or have disabilities that make it hard to travel downtown. Allowing comment by phone, they argued, removes another barrier that has kept people out of the conversation.

If people can’t come to the meeting, it isn’t really a public meeting.

Council member Diane Foster (fictional)

How to take part under the new schedule

1. Check the posted agenda, which goes online the Friday before each meeting.
2. Attend in person at City Hall, with doors opening at 6 p.m.
3. Watch the live stream on the city’s website or the local public access channel.
4. Register to speak by phone by noon on the day of the meeting.
5. Send written comments to the city clerk, which are shared with all council members.

Public comment will remain limited to three minutes per speaker, and the council will continue to hear general comments at the start of each meeting and item-specific comments when that item comes up on the agenda.

The pushback

Two council members worried about overtime costs for staff. The city estimates the change will cost about $40,000 a year. Most of that amount covers overtime for the clerk’s office, the technical crew that runs the cameras and sound, and a security officer who will now be on duty in the evening. A smaller share pays for the captioning service on the live stream.

Council member Richard Haines, who voted against the change, said he supported more participation but questioned the timing. The city is facing a tight budget next year, he noted, and $40,000 could pay for a summer of pool lifeguards or several miles of road striping. He also raised concerns about staff working late after full days at the office.

“I don’t doubt anyone’s good intentions,” Haines said. “But every dollar we spend on this is a dollar we aren’t spending somewhere else. I’d like to see us try streaming and phone comment first, and see if that solves the problem before we change the clock.”

Council member Patricia Long, the other no vote, said she worried that evening meetings could run late into the night, especially on nights with long agendas. She proposed a rule ending meetings at 10:30 p.m. unless a majority votes to continue. Her amendment passed with broad support, even as the main measure drew her opposition.

What other cities have found

The city is not the first to make this kind of change. Several mid-sized cities around the country hold council meetings in the evening, and many others added remote comment options in recent years. City staff told the council that, in their review, communities with evening meetings and remote comment tended to see a wider range of speakers, though not always a larger number.

Foster said she expects attendance to grow slowly as residents learn about the new schedule. She plans to promote the change through neighborhood associations, school newsletters and community centers. “Changing the time is step one,” she said. “Step two is letting people know the door is open.”

City Manager Thomas Rowe said staff will track attendance, the number of speakers and overtime costs during the first year and report back to the council. If costs run higher than expected, he said, the city could look at adjusting staff schedules so that employees who work the evening meetings start later in the day.

Key takeaway: Council meetings move to 6:30 p.m. next month, with a live stream and call-in comment added. The change will cost about $40,000 a year, and the council will review it after 12 months.

Residents react

Several residents who attended Tuesday’s afternoon session said they had taken time off work to be there and welcomed the change. Angela Ruiz, a nurse and mother of two, said she had tried for months to speak about a proposed traffic signal near her children’s school. “This is the first meeting I’ve been able to make,” she said. “I had to trade a shift to get here. Next time I can come after dinner.”

Others were more cautious. Longtime attendee Walter Kim, a retired engineer who has spoken at nearly every meeting for a decade, said he worried that evening sessions would be harder for older residents who do not like to drive after dark. He said he would likely use the phone option instead. “I’m glad they’re adding it,” he said. “But I’ll miss being in the room.”

Neighborhood association leaders said they plan to organize carpools for residents who want to attend in person but are uncomfortable driving at night, and the city’s transit agency said it would review bus service near City Hall on meeting nights.

What happens next

The first evening meeting is scheduled for the first Tuesday of next month at 6:30 p.m. in the council chambers. The agenda is expected to include the city’s draft budget and a public hearing on a proposed park renovation, two items likely to draw a crowd.

City staff will spend the coming weeks testing the live stream and phone system. Residents with questions about the new schedule can contact the city clerk’s office during regular business hours. Whether the change brings new voices into the room will become clear over the next year, but for the first time in decades, the council will be meeting at an hour when most of the city is free to listen.