In Our Opinion … City council: Take a look at what the city charter says

There has been increasing community anger over the city council’s abuse of adding items to their meeting agendas at the last minute.
At most meetings, you’ll hear one or more councilmembers asking to add on resolutions.
Most of the time, this is for items that are not of timely importance, despite the city charter saying this action is to be strictly reserved only for time-sensitive matters or matters of urgency.
And, the charter clearly says that including additional agenda items at the start of a meeting is the sole duty of the city manager.
Councilmembers who insist on inserting items into the agenda at the beginning of council meetings are being unfair to the public, who have had no time to review these proposed matters.
This practice also reeks of dishonesty.
We strongly urge councilmembers to read the city charter – particularly what it says about adding items onto meeting agendas.
But we know they won’t do that – and we suspect they don’t even care to play by the rules.
For those unfamiliar with what the city charter has to say about all this, look no farther than Chapter 30, Section 30:004.
The shorthand of all this is that only the city manager can add items to the council agenda at the last minute – and such items must relate to urgent matters.
Why is it that this council has such a hard time understanding this? Or, is it a case of mass hubris among some council members?
No matter, this is a practice that has become all-too common.
In short, this practice is eroding public trust in our elected leaders.
Posted March 6, 2026