Residents filled the City Council chambers to discuss a proposed smoking ban during a meeting that lasted nearly six hours in June 2011.
Staff photo
Fayetteville City Council meetings will start a half an hour earlier beginning May 6.
Aldermen voted last month to change the start time from 6 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the request of Martin Schoppmeyer, Ward 3 alderman.
Schoppmeyer said he wanted to coordinate the council meeting start time with the Planning Commission, which meets at 5:30 p.m. the second and fourth Monday of the month.
It’s the first change for City Council meeting times since aldermen voted to move the start time from 6:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. in 2003.
Mayor Lioneld Jordan said the earlier start time gave aldermen and residents a little extra rest at night after long meetings.
“I can tell you during that time, those council meetings would go from 6:30 until – we could go as late as 1 o’clock in the morning,” he said.
Meetings have averaged 2 hours and 20 minutes over the past year, according to videos archived at accessfayetteville.org by the Fayetteville Government Channel.
Aldermen Mark Kinion and Justin Tennant said the new time change was a good idea, but stressed that the meetings should not start any earlier than 5:30 p.m. to make sure residents have enough time to get the meetings after work.
