AP Votes For 1 Council Meeting Per Month

By MARC VALERO | Highlands Today
Published: February 25, 2009

AVON PARK --

To save money, the Avon Park City Council voted 3-2 Monday to hold only one council meeting per month.

The city council currently meets at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Monday of each month.

After approving the first reading of an ordinance specifiying one meeting on the fourth Monday of a month, the change would become effective in April if the council approves the ordinance on its second reading during the March 9 meeting.

City staff reported at a recent budget meeting that money could be saved by having only one city council meeting per month.

Mayor Sharon Schuler and Deputy Mayor George Hall voted against the one-meeting ordinance.

The staff"s argument is that they only have to prepare for one meeting and some of the staff who work the meetings are paid by the hour, Hall said Tuesday.

"I just don't think it's a good idea because once we get an hour or hour and a half into a meeting everybody starts getting mentally tired and sometimes we don't make the best decisions as the evening wears on later," he said.

The council sat for more than four hours Monday with a Community Redevelopment Agency meeting from 5 until 6:05 p.m. followed immediately by a council meeting, which concluded at 9:15 p.m.

"We have long meetings now so I don't know why we would want to have even longer meetings in the future," Hall said.