Local News in Brief : Anaheim : Night Council Meetings Discussion Postponed

The City Council postponed discussing whether to continue holding trial evening council meetings once a month after supporters of such night meetings failed to attend the Tuesday afternoon council session.

Proponents argue that evening meetings allow more residents to participate in city government. They note that Anaheim’s council is the only one that does not hold all its meetings at night.

Several citizens’ groups, the Anaheim Municipal Employees Assn. and the city’s police and fire associations, have urged the council to hold all meetings at night.

Councilman Fred Hunter has indicated that he would support more night meetings. But the other four council members contend that the majority of residents do not support night meetings and that late meetings would place a burden on the city’s staff.

Anaheim’s daytime council meetings now begin at 1:30 p.m., with public hearings scheduled at 3 p.m. Since November, the council also has held one night meeting on the first Tuesday of each month. City officials said crowds for those meetings, which begin at 6:30 p.m., are larger, on average, than for the daytime meetings.

The council postponed discussion of continuing or abandoning the night meetings until its next regularly scheduled night meeting, June 7.