Don’t think they have not tried. Commissioners Barth and Kelly made an attempt to change the meetings to 5 PM a few years ago. The vote failed 2-3. My suggestion would be a 5:30 or 6 PM meeting on Monday nights.
The reason? Well there are several. For one, the working class of this county could attend the meetings. One complaint I hear from several people is that no one knows what the county is up to. If you watch the meetings in replay (which usually takes 2 days to post to YouTube) like I do, the County makes some pretty serious decisions when it comes to how your property taxes are spent and criminal justice. While the city is the road builder of the city, the county is really the caretaker.
So why the opposition? I could use the ‘Republican’ excuse and their desire to keep government as closed as possible, but that excuse doesn’t hold much water since Uber Republican Kelly supported the night meetings. But I do think there is a strong desire by leadership on the county to keep the meetings during the day when the public struggles to attend.
I think they should take another shot at it.
Isn’t the real reason that the County Commission holds its meetings in the day is because most of their business is rural in nature. And in order to facilitate the rural/ag community, that comes to town most likely during the day, it is best that their meetings be held during day hours?
That said, with criminal justice issues increasingly becoming a concern for the Commission, which are both of urban and rural concern, then maybe the Commission should go to a split schedule of both day and night meetings?
Growing up on a farm and around other farmers in my family I will say that farming ‘free time’ is more of a seasonal thing, then day to day. Also, farmers have a pretty flexible schedule. You have heard the saying, Make hay when the sun is shining.
Or they prefer to have their evenings free and don’t really care if it is more difficult for the public to attend
9 AM meetings on Tuesday because having people show up and make comments or ask questions extends the meetings. And, they would like you to know being a Commissioner is not a full time job and it takes more time than they expected it would. And they have no money so their ability to adequately fund necessary services isn’t easy to come by, and, when they talk to legislators about more funding they are told to pound sand, even by members of their own party – who are supposed to be part of the “team”. Yet they struggle on, but with their evenings free.