Sandwich City Council changes meeting schedule to allow for more discussion on items

The Sandwich City Council has voted to change the order of its meetings to allow for more discussion before voting on an item.

The council holds its regular meetings at 7 p.m. followed by its Committee of the Whole meetings, during which items are discussed before being put to vote. At July 15′s council meeting, aldermen unanimously voted to change the order of the meetings.

As a result, Committee of the Whole meetings will start at 7 p.m. beginning next month, followed by the regular City Council meetings. The change is set to go into effect when the council meets Aug. 5.

At the July 1 City Council meeting, 1st Ward Alderman Rich Robinson voiced concerns about the current order of the meetings. As he noted, the council previously had its Committee of the Whole meetings on the first and third Mondays of the month and the regular City Council meetings on the second and fourth Mondays of the month.

Both meetings now are held on the same Monday.

“We’ve been doing it for a while now where we have our regular City Council meeting first and then, immediately following it, we have a Committee of the Whole meeting,” Robinson had said. “Sometimes during the regular City Council meeting, it’s the only time that we discuss something, and then we vote on it. I’d like to see us just change the meeting order – having the Committee of the Whole meeting first and then the regular City Council meeting. It just seems like we are doing it backwards.”

Robinson said he knows some items have to be discussed and acted on in a timely fashion.

“I’m not trying to slow us down on anything,” he said. “I’m just trying to give us more time for discussion to make sure everybody realizes what we’re doing.”