Release # 12-05
SUNNYVALE, Calif. – In a move to increase public participation in City Council meetings, the Sunnyvale City Council has adopted several changes to their meeting schedule.
Beginning with the January 11, 2005, meeting, City Council meetings will start at 7 p.m., a half-hour earlier than previously scheduled. KSUN-15, the City’s government access cable television station, will broadcast the meetings live, shifting to the new 7 p.m. start time.
In an effort to curtail lengthy meetings that have at times continued into the early morning hours, the Council has taken steps to shorten the meetings. In the future, if a meeting extends beyond 11:30 p.m., the Council will vote to approve opening any new agenda item after 11:30 p.m., and will vote again on each remaining item before opening the item. No new item will be opened after 1:30 a.m. Any agenda item not heard by Council because of the late hour will be rescheduled to a certain date in the future.
“We are deeply concerned that the late hour of some of our meetings have precluded necessary public involvement,” said Mayor Dean J. Chu. “We recognize that many of those who come before us have family responsibilities and have to get up to go to work in the morning. Most people simply were not able to stay into those early morning hours which deprived Council of their valuable input.”
City Council meetings will continue to be broadcast on KSUN-15 (Comcast Channel 15). Meetings air live on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. and are rebroadcast Wednesdays at 12:01 a.m. and 7 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays at 4 p.m.
For the upcoming meeting schedule, please call the City Clerk’s office at
(408) 730-7483, TDD (408) 730-7501, or visit www.sunnyvale.ca.gov, and click on Council Agendas on the right side of the screen. Council meets in Sunnyvale City Hall, 456 W. Olive Ave, Sunnyvale.