Bleary-Eyed Redondo Council Considers Earlier Meeting Time

In another attempt to complete its work before the new day begins, the Redondo Beach City Council has tentatively decided to begin its bimonthly meetings an hour earlier.

The council sessions, held on the first and third Tuesdays of each month, will start at 6:30 p.m. in an effort to wrap up work before midnight.

The meetings have grown longer since August, 1986, when the council began meeting twice a month instead of weekly. The last two meetings adjourned at 3:24 a.m. and 3:35 a.m., respectively.

Despite the lateness of the hour, nearly 30 agenda items were never acted on by the end of this week’s regular meeting and were postponed until March 15. And the mayor and council members had to meet in closed session for more than an hour later on Wednesday to discuss pending litigation, labor and lease negotiations they were scheduled to discuss the day before.

City Manager Tim Casey said the new starting time probably will not take effect until May 17, because the council must vote twice on the proposed change--once on introduction and again on adoption. The law would take effect 30 days after adoption.

Previously, the council agreed to review progress on the agenda at 10:30 p.m. and decide which items must be acted on immediately, which could wait until the next regular meeting or whether an additional meeting was needed.

The mayor and City Council also have begun meeting half an hour or more before the official starting time solely to hand out routine awards. Such ceremonies previously were part of the regular session. The council plans to continue convening early on the first Tuesday of each month.