Albany City Commission holds first dual meeting

ALBANY — It wasn’t a thing of beauty — that will take time — but the Albany City Commission’s new meeting policy kicked off Tuesday to mostly favorable reviews.

Discussion of some topics dragged on — “Jon (Howard) and I had to make up for Commissioner (Tommie) Postell’s absence,” Ward IV Commissioner Roger Marietta quipped — but by and large the new meeting format was a hit.

“I’m optimistic that this is going to work well for us,” City Manager Sharon Subadan, who pushed for the new meeting schedule, said after the business portion of Tuesday’s meeting concluded. “It will take us a couple of months to work the kinks out, but I think it’s going to allow us to operate more efficiently. We’ll be able to get our agenda items approved in a more timely manner.”

Noting that some business items on the commission’s plate sometimes took several weeks to get final approval, Subadan and commissioners worked through several proposals with the goal of adding a business meeting to the mix during each month. What eventually emerged, after the city’s business meeting in June, was on display Tuesday.

Rather than holding work meetings on the first and third Tuesdays of each month and then taking binding votes at a single business meeting on the fourth Tuesday, the city now holds back-to-back work and business meetings on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month.

Second-Tuesday work meetings start at 8:30 a.m. with a business meeting immediately following. The fourth-Tuesday work meetings will start at 6:30 p.m., with the business meeting afterward.

“What staff will do is try and balance out each meeting so that we can cover everything in a reasonable amount of time,” Subadan said after the work meeting Tuesday.

Mayor Dorothy Hubbard introduced a new segment to each work meeting Tuesday morning, noting that citizens who want to make comments about agenda items or other issues will have an opportunity to do so at the end of the work meetings. Each speaker must fill out a form before the meeting and will be given three minutes to comment. Two citizens took advantage of the opportunity on Tuesday.

“I do ask that, if there is a group wanting to make a comment, you designate one person to speak for the group,” Hubbard said. “We think our citizens have a right to participate in their government and talk with us about the issues that impact them.

:We plan to continue doing this as long as it remains beneficial.”

Groups or individuals who want to get on the agenda to address a specific issue must still sign up in the city clerk’s office by the Wednesday before each meeting. Sign-up for the citizen comment period for each meeting may be done immediately before the meeting.