Anaheim : Council Considers Later Start on Weekly Sessions

To allow residents who work during the day a chance to attend City Council meetings, and to accommodate the one council member who is not retired, the council is considering a later start for its Tuesday meetings.

Council members are considering starting the weekly meetings at noon instead of 10 a.m. Because the public meeting would not begin until 1:30 p.m., after a closed session at noon, council members hope that it would be easier for residents to attend meetings on workdays.

It also would help to accommodate newly elected Councilman Fred Hunter, a self-employed attorney who is the only one of the four council members who has a job other than council work.

Mayor Ben Bay and Councilman Irv Pickler agreed to experiment with the afternoon meetings, but both said they would vote to revert to morning meetings if council sessions begin running late into the night.

Until 1982, the council met in the afternoon. It changed the hours because “the meetings went so late into the evening,” city spokeswoman Sheri Erlewine said.

The council is expected to vote Tuesday on the later starting time.