South Lake Tahoe City Council votes to revamp meeting schedule in 2020

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - In a quest to allow staff and City Council time to address strategies and goals and less time spent on preparing reports for meetings, the South Lake Tahoe City Council moved on Tuesday to adopt a new meeting schedule for 2020, one that gives them one major meeting a month along with budget workshops, closed sessions, joint agency meetings, team building sessions, and public forums.

Historically, the council meetings have been held on the first and third Tuesday of every month except for four (January, July, November, and December) when one meeting was scheduled for a total of 20. The new plan gives 12 monthly meetings with five additional ones with special focuses on 1) A development and refinement of the Council's vision and strategic planning on Feb 25; 2) A budget & capital planning workshop on April 28; 3) Budget workshops on August 25 and September 22; and 4) Joint El Dorado County Supervisors meeting tentatively scheduled for June 23. For a total of 17 meetings.

Additional City Council meetings could be scheduled when/if needed.

This past year they held one daytime monthly meeting and one evening meeting scheduled to give the public more access. The public that turns out during the daytime meetings has remained greater than those in the evening. With a promised end time on those evening meetings at 10:30 p.m., the agendas weren't as robust as their daytime counterparts.

Besides meetings, there were also budget workshops, closed sessions, joint agency meetings, team building sessions, and public forums, many of which can be attended by the public.

Besides moving to one meeting a month it was proposed that it would start at 1:00 p.m. with public comment, then break for 30 minutes for dinner, then resume at 6:00 p.m. with another public comment session. City Manager Frank Rush told Council this proposal enabled staff to focus better on items addressing strategies and goals, with half a meeting during normal work hours and a half in the evening, continuing to give the public access to the process.

This portion did not pass and regularly scheduled meetings will all start at 9:00 p.m. with a closing public comment session.

Since the meeting end times are not consistent this will require the public to watch the meetings online, on the television or be in attendance to talk during that last public comment session.

Both Councilmembers Cody Bass and Devin Middlebrook voted against the change, wanting to keep two meetings a month with some single-meeting months.

Mayor Brooke Laine said she'd like to try the proposed plan, liked the way it was framed, and said it was worth trying. "We can always change it," she said. Mayor Pro Tem Jason Collin agreed with the ability to change should it be found that all the work the needs to be done, is not being completed.

The resolution passed 3-2, with Bass and Middlebrook voting against it.

The schedule for 2020:

Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Tuesday, February 11, 2020
Tuesday, February 25, 2020 – Vision & Strategic Planning
Tuesday, March 10, 2020
Tuesday, April 14, 2020
Tuesday, April 28, 2020 – Budget & Capital Planning Workshop
Tuesday, May 12, 2020
Tuesday, June 9, 2020
Tuesday, June 23, 2020 - Joint El Dorado County Board of Supervisors Meeting
Tuesday, July 14, 2020
Tuesday, August 11, 2020
Tuesday, August 25, 2020 – Budget Workshop
Tuesday, September 8, 2020
Tuesday, September 22, 2020 - Budget Workshop
Tuesday, October 13, 2020
Tuesday, November 10, 2020
Tuesday, December 8, 2020