AMSTERDAM — The Common Council is reverting back to the 6 p.m. start time for regular meetings after four months of starting half an hour later.
Deputy Mayor and 1st Ward Alderwoman Kelly Quist-Demars in January sought to push back the start of the regular meeting to provide a full hour beforehand for committee meetings, more in-depth council discussion and the addition of reports from department heads.
The changes aimed at enhancing transparency and better informing officials and the public alike will still take place, but they will be moved into the communications and presentation section of the regular meeting agenda.
Mayor Michael Cinquanti and Corporation Counsel Anthony Casale suggested the rarely used section of the agenda would be the best fit for reports from staff, consultants or local groups. It also ensures reports are part of the official record.
The council originally supported Quist-Demars’ request to change the meeting time and again supported her recent request to move the regular meeting time back to 6 p.m. on the first and third Tuesday of each month following the committee of the whole meeting to review agenda items at 5:30 p.m.
The first-time deputy mayor said the added time over the last several months was valuable to discuss and iron out the still-evolving procedural changes.
“There is more to come and there’s a lot of work to be done on just the structure of the meetings, the procedure with the overall goal that we’re passing thoughtful legislation that’s fiscally responsible, well thought out with issues that might come down the road and we’re getting feedback from professionals and constituents on those things,” Quist-Demars said.
Other aldermen have generally voiced support for these plans, but provided limited feedback or suggestions during repeated discussions. Quist-Demars acknowledged the reaction made her unsure if there was a reluctance to revise the meeting structure or a lack of clarity about what was being sought.
“It’s been more challenging than I expected,” Quist-Demars said. “It's time to start showing what I’m looking for rather than continuing to tell people what I’m looking to do. I feel like I did that for a couple months at meetings and now it’s in the show phase and we’ll see what the feedback is as that starts happening.”
Under the revised format, individual department heads are expected to be invited periodically to report to the council on regular business, emerging trends, updates on projects or details on upcoming initiatives.
“The better we understand those things the better we can help support those priorities. It can be very overwhelming to remember all the different projects the economic development team has or to remember the different processes the clerk has for notifying homeowners of things or the different code situations,” Quist-Demars said. “This gives them an opportunity to just tell us a little bit about that or if something is coming up.”
Although the police chief, fire chief and city clerk all attend the twice monthly sessions, only the city engineer and controller previously provided regular reports to the council. Other department heads would only attend meetings when requested to address specific pieces of legislation before the council.
While the mayor holds regular meetings with department heads, the updates at council sessions are also geared toward fostering communication, collaboration and participation among city staff, officials and the public.
“People are very busy to know everything going on and so this would help them know and understand what’s going on with their city government and maybe we would see an increase in interest in some things or opinions on some things,” Quist-Demars said.