Atwater again will weigh meeting once a month

The Atwater City Council will reopen discussion on whether it should cut its meeting schedule to once a month for at least part of the year, a debate that has been ongoing for some time.

On a 4-0 vote Monday, the council ordered staff members to determine how much the city would save by holding one council meeting a month, rather than two, during the fall.

Mayor Jim Price, who opposes reducing the meeting schedule, did not vote because he left the meeting early to attend to an issue related to his business.

Councilman James Vineyard said the council’s work in the months after the budget is adopted tends to be lighter than the rest of the year. He said the council should at least look at what savings it could find.

“To me, it seems like it costs extra money to have a lawyer there, staff here and everything,” he said.

The city went down to one meeting a month for about six months beginning in late 2014, which saved $27,739 in staffing and resources costs, city staffers reported earlier this year.

Detractors of the idea have said one meeting limits the public’s access to elected officials and results in longer meetings. Price made the matter a point of contention during his campaign in 2014.

Councilman Brian Raymond said he would want to see a line-by-line breakdown of the expenses for a council meeting. “To vote on something like that, I want to see all the numbers,” he said.

During the same meeting, the council voted 4-0 to begin putting campaign contribution documents on the city’s website. The idea was spawned by Raymond, who said it could lead to better transparency among the council members and candidates.

“It’s an easy thing to do,” he said.

The city clerk will be required to put campaign contribution documents into a format that can be placed online.

Councilman Joe Rivero also voiced support for the plan. “Everybody needs to know what’s going on in the city and where the money’s coming from,” he said.

The council also finalized a date and time for unveiling its two “In God We Trust” signs, which will go up at City Hall. Mayor Pro Tem Larry Bergman said the event will take place at 10 a.m. Nov. 7 in front of City Hall, 750 Bellevue Road.

The unveiling will be followed by a barbecue and a musical performance.

This story was originally published October 13, 2015 at 4:21 PM with the headline "Atwater again will weigh meeting once a month."