After burning the near-midnight oil during several meetings through the first half of the year, Louisville City Council members are looking at ways to curtail meetings and get themselves, and the public, to bed at a reasonable hour.

Council members are in the process of a self-evaluation to assess what they can do different procedurally to shorten the length of meetings.

"The only thing I've noticed ... is that back in the day when I was on council before, there seemed to be a flow to agenda items that seems to have changed over time," Councilman Jay Keany said.

Keanyy said in his previous tenure on council, members would wait until staff or applicant presentations and public comment were complete before asking questions. By asking questions throughout presentations, as is the current practice, he said the discussion often gets sidetracked and protracted.

"It seems like we interrupt the process, which I think causes things to go longer than it would otherwise," Keaney said.

Council members emphasize they don't want to curb public involvement, but might begin limiting comments from residents wishing to speak on an issue to three minutes each.

Mayor Pro Tem Hank Dalton requested that whenever possible staff presentations be limited to five minutes.

"Let's assume that every member of council has come (to meetings) prepared and having read the packet, the council communication and all the supporting documentation that goes behind it," Dalton said.

Mayor Bob Muckle said a five-minute presentation policy would require flexibility.


"Staff's heads might be exploding because I believe about a year ago we told them we needed better, more thorough, longer presentations. But there's a happy medium," Muckle said, adding the presentations aren't merely for the benefit of council members. "The public does have to be able to understand what the subject is. I don't think it's reasonable to expect them to read the entire packet."

Other ideas to shorten meetings include limiting agenda items, conducting executive sessions prior to the 7 p.m. meeting start time, rather than during the course of a meeting, continuing discussions to a later date when talks run late into the evening, and scheduling topics with looming deadlines earlier in meetings to make sure pressing city business gets handled in a timely fashion and at a reasonable hour.

"I really feel that good public process doesn't happen at extraordinarily late hours," Councilman Jeff Lipton said. "I think what we're trying to do often is put 10 pounds of potatoes in a 5-pound bag. There are a lot of things that have kept us going late that are discretionary; they weren't absolutely necessary."
