Ventura Council Agrees to End Meetings by Midnight

City Council members met Saturday to talk about how to keep themselves, and city council meetings, from going on for so long.

After spending almost three hours hashing out ways to streamline and clarify current procedures, they agreed to conclude Monday council meetings by midnight.

They also agreed to have Mayor Jack Tingstrom, who runs the meetings, remind council members to wrap up their comments after they have held the floor for about 10 minutes.

In the last year, Ventura council meetings have been running later and later. Meetings ending at 1 a.m. have become routine. Midnight is early.

A recent meeting on the Centerplex proposal petered out at 3:15 a.m., breaking a record set in 1965. Only a shortage of tapes kept the meeting from running longer.

“Not so long ago, 10 was considered a late night,” Deputy City Clerk Mabi Plisky said Friday. “But then in December ’95 to January ‘96, they started going longer. I’m not sure what caused the change. We had a change in council. That’s also when the council started taking on some heavy-duty issues.”

With the help of a professional facilitator--who shepherded them through rough spots, pulled straying conversations back on track and cut comments off when they became rambling or repetitive--council members were able to approve five dense pages of new or clarified protocol. They ended only five minutes past their 2:30 goal.

Topics ranged from when council members can use City Council stationery to whether council members should wear beepers to how to pull a consent item from the agenda.

As they spoke, facilitator Peter Brown ranged around the room, jumping in to offer such words of encouragement as “Looks like we’ve got a lot of head shakes there,” or “Good work--that passed.” He also offered Tingstrom tidbits of advice on how to manage feisty members fighting to get in a word--or a few hundred words.

“This is more of an art form than a science,” Brown told the mayor, who tried to explain how hard it can be to let all the politicians who are waving their arms and whispering in his ear have their say. “You’ve gotta make a call,” Brown told him.

Council members also debated the merits and demerits of allowing themselves to use the Power Point computer program to present their own opinions. The computerized slide program is used at council meetings, which are broadcast on local television.

Some members voiced concern that the Power Point presentations look so professional and so similar to staff briefs that the public can get confused about what is fact and what is mere opinion.

To date, Councilman Steve Bennett has taken the greatest advantage of the Power Point technology.

Councilmen Ray Di Guilio and Jim Monahan suggested that Bennett’s Power Point presentations bear a disclaimer: “This is a presentation by Steve Bennett.”

Councilman Jim Friedman wanted more.

“I just think, where it says ‘Presented by Steve Bennett,’ it should also say in parentheses, ‘These are not necessarily hard facts,’ ” Friedman said, only half joking.

With less than 15 minutes left in the meeting, Bennett broached the touchiest subject of all: council members’ speaking time.

“A critical question is how long can we talk,” Bennett said. “But we may not want to touch it, because it’s just too hard.”

Bennett’s intro touched off some of the most intense debate of the afternoon.

Tingstrom expressed reluctance to limit debate.

Bennett encouraged the council to adopt a 10-minute speaking limit for council members each time they take the floor.

Di Guilio, who ranked as the most long-winded speaker in last year’s timed test by The Times, bravely volunteered for more discipline. “I’m willing to have my seat electronically enhanced so Jack can bolt up the voltage to limit me,” Di Guilio suggested good-naturedly.

The council decided there would be no formal limit on speaking time, but if after 10 minutes a council member has still not gotten to the point, Tingstrom will encourage that member to make the point and wrap up.

The new protocols will be put to the test Monday night. On that day, the council meets to discuss the newest stadium plan--a topic that has inspired hours of passionate debate in the past.