UPDATE 4:00pm | Councilmember Gerrie Schipske continues her opposition to the movement within City Hall to reduce City Council meetings to just two per month, with a new blog this afternoon explaining her position and announcing that she will introduce a motion of her own.

Schipske will introduce a motion to allow voters to decide whether City staff has their pay reduced by an amount equal to time lost due to fewer Council meetings. Her argument? Their salaries were set in 1988 based on the expectation of four meetings per month, which has since been reduced to three and now possibly will become two. Why should pay remain the same?

She also expresses a common concern among those in opposition to the idea (including many of the commenters below this article): that fewer City Council meetings will mean decreased transparency and greater rule by special interests behind closed doors.In her own words:

Two meetings a month will mean more decisions get made behind the scenes and public involvement will be squashed because after all “we have a very full agenda with only meeting two times a month…so hurry along.” The people of our city are struggling financially and what is being proposed is an insult to every resident who would gladly change places with 9 city council members and work full time.

With a city as large as Long Beach, there have always been those that believe the councilmembers should be full-time employees to better serve a vast and diverse community. To actually cut the number of City meetings being held in full public view is already meeting sharp resident criticism and the upcoming discussion during next Tuesday’s meeting will surely be interesting.

UPDATE 1:30pm | The agendized item lists Councilmembers Suja Lowenthal (2nd District) and Robert Garcia (1st District) as supporters of the effort to trim City Council meetings down to two per month, along with Gary DeLong.

The agenda item (click here to download) includes a 2003 report presented to the Council that provides information on several different meeting strategies. The Council eventually decided on the current system of meeting every Tuesday except for the final one of each month.  The report includes the option of holding two monthly meetings, and the text is as follows:

At a cost of $3,130 per meeting, a twice-monthly schedule would save $87,640 per year. A schedule of 1st and 3rd Tuesdays beginning in April of this year, would mean the elimination of 22 meetings, for a savings of $68,860 for the remainder of FY 2003; however, it should be noted that a two-meeting per month schedule could result in negative impacts on the timely conducting of City business and may require more “special meetings.”

The official item request presented by DeLong, Garcia and Lowenthal is as follows:

Recommended Action: Request the City Attorney to prepare an Amendment to Municipal Code Section 2.03.020 [b] to provide the Council meeting schedule of the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of the month.

UPDATE 10:00am | The item has been submitted for the July 13 City Council meeting, according to 3rd District Councilmember Gary DeLong, who is leading the effort.

“Every department in the City is looking for ways to be more efficient,” he said this morning. “The fewer hours I spend in a Council meeting, the more time I have to be out in the community and working on projects in the community.”

DeLong said that the effort’s two goals are to save money in a tough economic climate and to allow staff more time for community projects rather than preparing for administrative meetings. He said that Council meetings cost about $3,000 to $3,500 to hold, and that while the amount is slim compared to an $18.5 million deficit, it’s enough money to support his idea.

“Anytime I can fix $50,000 more of sidewalk, I think that’s a great thing,” he said.

In response to Schipske’s argument that cutting meetings will limit the Council’s authority, DeLong said he disagrees.

“I don’t really understand that reasoning,” he said. The Council will still be the city’s decision-making body and will not relinquish any of its power, according to DeLong.

9:30am | Some City Councilmembers may introduce a new motion to hold Council meetings just twice per month according to a recent blog from 5th District Councilmember Gerrie Schipske and corroborated by a source inside City Hall. 

Currently, the City Council meets every Tuesday except for the last Tuesday of each month 

As budget talks are about to heat up and the city’s $18.5 million deficit will likely produce a long and difficult process, the idea to limit City Council meetings would be presented as an attempt to save money. How much will not be known unless the councilmembers involved do actually present the idea.

Schipske announced her opposition to the idea in a blog a few weeks ago, arguing that a city as large as Long Beach needs frequent meetings and that fewer meetings will limit the Council’s authority. She also says that the idea wouldn’t save money because City employees are on salary and don’t make overtime.

Much more to come…

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