Council to discuss the merits of moving Council meetings from Mondays to Tuesdays; consider holding council work sessions at the library community room and; consider establishing rules to allow council members to participate remotely using live video technology (like Zoom). 

By ordinance, the City Council holds its regular city council meetings on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of each month at 5:30 PM in the Council Chambers and work sessions are held on the 1st and 3rd Mondays at the same time and location.   After speaking with my colleagues and considering the potential positive impact for the Council, staff and public, I believe it is worth considering moving council meetings from Mondays to Tuesdays.  The following may be benefits of such a move:

• Improved meeting preparation.  Throughout my career, I've observed that most council members review council packets over the weekend.  Tuesday meetings, provide an additional business day to receive answers to questions and think through the packet material you've reviewed.
• The additional business day increases the opportunity for staff to respond to council member questions during the work week rather than over the weekend.
• Billings Public Schools also hold school board meetings on Mondays at 5:30
• Whenever Mondays are the observed national holiday, the meetings are already moved to Tuesdays.  
• When it comes to energy and productivity, starting the work weeks with a 12, 13 or 14 hour day is a lousy way to start the week or come off from a weekend of enjoying Montana.  

Council work sessions are, by design, less formal.  By moving the work sessions away from the formal "council chambers" to a location where the Council, staff and "presenters" can be seated at the same table, we may foster a more conversational discussion.  Now that the library community room has been fully set up for live meetings and recordings, we have a more informal option that did not exist before the pandemic.  

We learned through conversations with our peers around MT, that most are still conducting formal business meetings via Zoom.  Billings made the change back to, live only city council meetings after the Governor lifted the state of emergency tied to the pandemic.  After further review of the Montana Constitution and the recent  Attorney General's letter of advice, we concur with our peers that live video participation is permissible.  City Attorney Dahl offers the following:

“It is my legal opinion that neither the Constitution nor the statutory provisions of the public’s right to know and participate require actual physical presence. This opinion is supported by the AG letter of advice provided to cities and counties at the beginning of the pandemic which states ‘our previous analysis of cases and statutes revealed the intent that the public be provided the reasonable opportunity to participate and observe while the manner or mechanism is not defined,’ while noting that ‘…the manner by which notice, participation and observation are provided to the public must be reasonable.’ This same analysis and review of the existing case law and AG Opinions could lead to a reasonable conclusion that continuing to conduct both virtual or hybrid meetings, following the guidelines attached to the AG letter of advice, meets the constitutional and statutory requirements for notice, participation, and observation. I don’t believe the Montana Supreme Court would be inclined to read the Constitution in a way that does not allow the public to continue to participate in a way that makes it more accessible for them and keeps them safe during a pandemic (which is still in effect) especially if the option is a hybrid meeting which allows a choice to do either.”

City Council may:

• Decide to pursue one, two or all three of the above-mentioned ideas; or,
• Not pursue any of the ideas

Implementing the ideas identified above is not expected to directly save or cost more money than our current practices.  However, if by moving the council meetings to Tuesdays, we come better prepared.  Meetings should be more productive, saving time and money. 

The Council will consider the merits of moving Council meetings from Mondays to Tuesdays; consider holding council work sessions at the library community room and; consider establishing rules to allow council members to participate remotely through a live video feed (like Zoom).  No final decisions will be made.  If the council decides to pursue any of the three ideas, code amendments will be required.