City Council to Steer a User-Friendly Course

After a series of meetings, the Santa Clarita City Council has decided to spend less time meeting.

Instead of yawning along until past midnight, as now often happens, the council will gavel all meetings to a close no later than 11:30 p.m.

In a daylong series of team-building sessions last month, council members also decided to hold a short public meeting before their twice-monthly 6:30 p.m. meetings to address technical questions they have that often bog down the regular sessions. They will also begin the 30-minute public comment period at 7 p.m., before the council acts, instead of 10 p.m., when most remarks are moot because decisions have already been made.

And just in case that isn’t enough, the council will station two “hostesses” in council chambers starting tonight in hopes that they can save still more time by guiding residents through the often-complicated business of civic affairs.

City spokeswoman Gail Foy and another city employee will help residents decide such burning questions as whether to sign up to testify for or against a proposed project. That may sound ludicrous, but sometimes city business is anything but simple. Where do people sign, for instance, if they support a previous panel’s denial of a project?

Strange as it seems, the effort is characteristic of the council, which invited 50 hairdressers to lunch last year to find out what was on the people’s minds.

City activists said Monday that they are looking forward to the reforms.

“The City Council is obviously the best show in town and, as long as they have ushers, they should probably be selling tickets,” said John Drew, president of the local slow-growth group and a frequent participant in council meetings. “I’d pay $5 to go.”