Loveland council debates run late

‘We’re getting worse, and we’re getting worse at a high rate of speed’

Loveland’s City Council told the city staf f to move up a meeting on parliamentary procedure Tuesday, after one councilor raised concerns about the group’s ability to manage its time ef ficiently.

The council often fails to make it all the way through its Tuesday night agenda: Items had to be rescheduled after five of the last 10 council meetings due to time, including one meeting at which the council ran out of time as members debated how long they wanted to extend the meeting.

Meetings usually begin at 6 p.m., and the group’s rules require regular meetings to wrap up by 10:30 p.m. unless the time is extended by a vote, which is uncommon. Study sessions and special meetings may go beyond 10:30 p.m. without a vote.

The second item on the docket Tuesday night — reviewing changes proposed by the staff to the city’s Unified Development Code — had previously been bumped from the council’s Oct. 13 agenda because of time.

Opting at the last minute to put off items affects city staffers beyond forcing them to rearrange the council’s calendar. Ward III councilor John Fogle pointed out that staf f presenters often are kept on the hook for hours while they wait for their agenda items to be called.

“We’ve had so many times that we’ve sent staff packing after two or three hours of listening to a City Council meeting,” he said. “We’re getting worse, and we’re getting worse at a high rate of speed.”

Assistant to the city manager Justine Bruno said staff presenters are asked to be available from the star t of the meeting to the end of their item or items. The majority, she estimated “over 90%,” are not eligible for over time.

During the new-business section of Tuesday’s meeting, councilor Don Overcash of Ward IV raised the possibility of the council getting together specifically to identify ways of streamlining meetings.

Overcash, who works as a business consultant, said he has been teased about the conduct of the council when trying to improve the efficiency of client organizations.

“It’s a little frustrating to be part of a problem when people are hiring me to solve their problems,” he said. “Of late and historically, we have (had) problems getting through the agenda. … We end up

rushing at the end and rushing to get things approved.”

Council members disagreed over whether to bring in an outside consultant to help run the proposed meeting and the extent to which the meeting should include a refresher on parliamentary procedure, particularly Robert’s Rules of Order.

Ward II councilors Andrea Samson and Kathi Wright said they felt the purpose of the meeting overlapped with a previous request brought forward by Wright to invite a group that offers education on parliamentar y procedure, Jurassic Parliament, to present to the council.

Samson said she wouldn’t support another council member running the meeting.

“I agree with you. It does get too lengthy,” she said. “I just think we are in a state as a council where we probably can’t rely on ourselves to facilitate our own issues.”

Mayor Jacki Marsh also said she was optimistic that holding council members to the letter of Robert’s Rules would speed up meetings.

“Most of us don’t take even five minutes to make our point, so you would stop the back-and-forth; you would stop people commenting three and four times,” she said.

Others, including Ward III councilor Steve Olson and Ward IV’S Dave Clark, disagreed. Clark said he felt that inviting a consultant was unnecessary for what he characterized as a simple suggestion by Overcash.

“I don’t think it takes a high-powered consultant to come in or a big, expensive class,” he said. “I think it’s a matter of looking at our own rules that we’ve already established.”

Robert’s Rules of Order are not currently binding for council members par ticipating in meetings.

City Manager Steve Adams said staff members had given another requested meeting with a consultant — Kathi Novak, who ran the council’s 2020 annual retreat — precedence over the Jurassic Parliament session, but that he and the staff would work to schedule the Jurassic Parliament meeting as soon as possible, incorporating Overcash’s and others’ concerns.

Overcash suggested that the group could meet at the Loveland Police and Courts Building, which has a greater in-person seating capacity than the council chambers at City Hall.

City Attorney Moses Garcia said the group would have to take a vote before agreeing to meet again in person since voting on Oct. 20 to remotely meet until the local coronavirus disaster declaration is lifted.