Everett City Council members debate night meetings, access to public

Published 9:44 am Friday, January 15, 2010

EVERETT – City leaders may have voted to move to mostly morning meetings last week, but the issue seemed far from settled at the Everett City Council today.

City leaders work for the people and the council ought to conduct its business with the doors wide open – even if nobody shows up, Councilman Drew Nielsen said as part of a prepared statement that lasted more than 10 minutes.

Everett is a town that works for a living, and most people can’t attend day meetings or run for office, he said.

Councilwoman Brenda Stonecipher was absent from the meeting today and Nielsen said she may have to resign or be removed from her elected position if morning meetings continue. Stonecipher recently took a day job in Seattle.

The city charter calls for primarily day meetings and a citizen committee reviewed that charter and approved in 2006, said Councilman Ron Gipson, the councilman who introduced the resolution to reduce night meetings.

“We’re just doing what the people asked us to do,” Gipson said.

Day meetings don’t necessarily exclude working people from serving as an elected official, he said. Gipson described how he, as a shift worker at the jail, had to manage his schedule to balance his work and elected duties.

“I understood the hardships I faced when I signed up to be a councilperson,” he said.

Last week, the council’s first order of business was passing a resolution returning the council to primarily morning meetings. Part of the resolution included a pledge to make sure hot button issues were discussed at night meetings. The plan came with no prior public notice and no comment from the public.

Nielsen, Stonecipher and Council President Paul Roberts voted against the resolution. Councilmen Jeff Moore, Shannon Affholter, Arlan Hatloe and Gipson voted for it.

Hatloe last week said the idea was coordinated in advance, partly in retaliation for earlier squabbles among the council.

Until last year, the council for decades held most of its meetings in the morning. The majority of the council also decided without public notice or comment to move to night meetings.

Nielsen said the decision caused widespread anger in the community. About two dozen people attended the meeting. All four people who spoke favored night meetings.*

Moore, who just joined the council last week, said public service comes down to the number of hours worked and how that time is spent – not whether a meeting is held at a certain time. He also said only night meetings would limit access to people who worked then and suggested the council try a balance of night and morning meetings.

No decisions about changing the scheduling occurred. At the moment, the council meets at 8:30 a.m. Wednesdays, except for the third Wednesday of the month, which occurs at 6:30 p.m.

* This article has been changed since it was first posted to correct the number of people who spoke at the meeting.