Plan to Change La Grange City Council Meeting Days Faces Some Opposition

The La Grange City Council took no action on a request from staff at their meeting last Monday to change the dates for Council meetings.

The Council currently meets on the second and fourth Mondays of each month at 6 p.m. City Manager Jack Thompson said City staff would like to change those dates to the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month. Thompson said recent changes in state law about meeting notices make it more difficult to plan for Monday meetings.

“A lot of this stemmed from the last legislative session,” Thompson said. “Historically, we’ve been able to post meetings with a 72 hour notice. Now it’s three business days. So that puts us in a little bit more of a time crunch.”

In addition, Thompson said Tuesday meetings would interfere less with holidays. Tuesday meetings would also provide some staff members with more opportunities to take a four-day weekend vacation.

“I’m really not in favor of Tuesday meetings, but that’s just my opinion,” said Councilwoman Violet Zbranek.

Councilman Bryan Kerr said the change would interfere with his work schedule. He requested any change to not go into effect until after January 1, so that he could adjust his work schedule.

“It’s going to affect me until I have no kids at home,” said Councilwoman Katie Gross. “If it does move to a Tuesday, it is not going to work for me.”

Thompson said staff would be open to other dates that better suit councilmember schedules.

City Secretary Janet Bayer said she will begin posting meeting notices and agendas on the Tuesday before the meetings to comply with the new posting requirement law.

Council took no action on the request. For now, the La Grange City Council will continue to meet on the second and fourth Mondays.