Sandwich reviewing council meeting schedule to allow more public discussion

The Sandwich City Council is looking at changing the order of its meetings to allow for more discussion prior to voting on an item.

The City Council currently holds its regular City Council meetings at 7 p.m. followed by its Committee of the Whole Council meetings, where items are discussed before being voted on. At the July 1 City Council meeting, 1st Ward Alderman Rich Robinson voiced concerns about the current order of the meetings.

As he noted, the City Council had previously held its Committee of the Whole meetings on the first and third Mondays of the month and the regular City Council meetings on the second and fourth Mondays of the month. Both meetings now are held on the same Monday.

“We’ve been doing it for a while now where we have our regular Ciity Council meeting first and then immediately following it, we have a Committee of the Whole meeting,” Robinson said. “Sometimes during the regular City Council meeting, it’s the only time that we discuss something and then we vote on it. I’d like to see us just change the meeting order, having the Committee of the Whole meeting first and then the regular City Council meeting. It just seems like we are doing it backwards.”

Robinson said he knows some items have to be discussed and acted on in a timely fashion.

“I’m not trying to slow us down on anything,” he said. “I’m just trying to give us more time for discussion to make sure everybody realizes what we’re doing.”

Other aldermen said they supported changing the meeting order.

“I’m totally fine with changing it, because I think there are times where we need to discuss things a little more,” Second Ward Alderman Adam Arnett said.