Council to Hold Last Monday Meeting Before Tuesday Trial Begins in September

The Pasadena City Council meets Monday for what likely will be its last scheduled Monday session before trying out Tuesday meetings next month.

The change comes as the council grapples with chronic late starts, canceled committee meetings and a calendar complicated by Monday holidays.

Councilmembers are scheduled to conduct the first reading of an ordinance on Monday that would amend two sections of the Pasadena Municipal Code to hold regular council meetings on Tuesdays.

They are also set to discuss restructuring council committees, to consider an item from Councilmember Jason Lyon on the start time of council meetings, and a policy against starting complex matters after 10 p.m.

The Aug. 31 meeting also opens a thin stretch on the council’s calendar. Nine of the council’s 17 remaining Monday dates this year were already slated for holiday season cancellation, two of them replaced by the September Tuesday meetings.

One — Dec. 7 — is set aside for the council’s annual organizational meeting, at which the City Charter requires councilmembers to elect a vice mayor.

On Aug. 17, the council approved holding special meetings on Tuesday, Sept. 15, and Tuesday, Sept. 29, in place of regular meetings on that had been set for Monday, Sept. 14, and Monday, Sept. 28.

The September meetings will serve as a Tuesday trial run while city officials consider permanently shifting council meetings to Tuesdays. The council’s direction that day called for meetings each Tuesday at 5 p.m. Because the meeting day is set by ordinance, a permanent switch requires council adoption.

Sept. 7, which is Labor Day, and Sept. 21 are slated for cancellation outright, leaving no Monday council meeting next month.

“Moving it to Tuesday creates the opportunity for us to take back on meetings the weeks when there are national holidays,” Lyon said.

He also said the late starts often stem from conversations with legal counsel running long, not necessarily from absent councilmembers.

Councilmember Rick Cole made the motion to prepare an ordinance to move permanently to Tuesday.

“I think this will give more time for better preparation for the staff and for the council and for the community to have one extra day if we continue to put the agenda out on Thursday,” he said.

Councilmember Justin Jones raised access for professionals who work outside Pasadena.

“I just think about my mom who worked retail and she couldn’t go home until her go-backs were finished,” he said.

Councilmembers Tyron Hampton and Steve Madison were not at that meeting. They will have a chance to weigh in before the ordinance receives two readings.

Changing the council’s meeting night could also force subsequent changes to several committee schedules.

The Finance Committee, which currently meets before the council on Mondays, is set to cancel its Sept. 14 and Sept. 28 meetings and meet Sept. 15 at 4 p.m. instead. Four other council committees are set to cancel September meetings, and staff said it would work with committee chairs before bringing back a proposed schedule.

The August 31 meeting begins with closed session at 5 p.m. and the public meeting at 6 p.m. in the Council Chamber at Pasadena City Hall, 100 N. Garfield Ave., Room S249. Meetings stream at pasadenamedia.org and at cityofpasadena.net/cczoom.

The council’s next scheduled meeting after Monday is a special closed session Sept. 8, followed by the special Tuesday meeting Sept. 15.