NEWPORT BEACH : Council Considers Ending Split Sessions

The City Council has taken the first step toward doing away with split-session meetings that some residents complained had cut them out of the local government process.

Since June, the council has met at 2 p.m. for study sessions, joint sessions with committees and to discuss and act on other matters.

Then the council would close the session to discuss legal issues and resume the open public meetings at 7 p.m.

But some residents complained that their day jobs prevented them from attending meetings or even watching them on public access television and, in effect, kept them from participating in local government.

The council decided Dec. 12 to try one-session meetings and is scheduled to take a final vote on the change Jan. 9.

Mayor John Hedges and other council members wanted to eliminate the 2 p.m. sessions but also wanted to leave the council the flexibility to restore them, if the volume of business increased enough to make the split sessions necessary again.

If the change gets final approval, the council indicated that it will eliminate the afternoon session, meet at 5 p.m. on the second and fourth Monday of each month for closed sessions and begin its open sessions at 7 p.m.

The earliest the council will meet in one session will be in early February.