Council continues debate on whether 6 p.m. start time will change

Lawton City Council will continue to start its regular meetings at 6 p.m., but keeping that time beyond Feb. 25 may depend on individual members.

In an often-confusing discussion Tuesday, council members debated what typically is an item passed without comment: next year’s meeting schedule. Oklahoma’s Open Meetings Act requires municipalities to file a copy of their regular meeting schedule by Dec. 15, and City Clerk Donalynn Blazek-Scherler wanted guidance for the 2025 schedule. The issue is start time. Earlier this year, the council directed city staff to return that time to 6 p.m., something that began with the Aug. 13 meeting.

While evening meetings had been the norm for decades, council members decided in 2020 to move regular meetings to 2 p.m. as a cost-saving measure for utilities that must be paid to keep the building open in the evenings and for city employees who get overtime when they work beyond regular shift.

Residents had been increasingly vocal about the limits an afternoon meeting presents to those who want to attend, but have jobs. In May, the council voted to restore its 6 p.m. start time to encourage residents to attend meetings while widening the field of candidates seeking city office because council meetings more easily fit into the average work schedule.

While Tuesday’s agenda item initially asked for discussion of the issue, it was amended late Monday to waiving a section of city code in order to approve the 2025 meeting notice, setting meetings at 6 p.m. Council members ended up in a debate as to exactly what was meant when what many describe as a temporary measure was approved earlier this year, and exactly what had to be done to set the 2025 schedule.

Ward 4 Councilman George Gill said when the council initially approved the new start time, it was intended to be a six-month trial, with members deciding whether to stay with that time when six months ended (the Feb. 25 meeting). Blazek-Scherler while minutes of the May vote specified a six-month period, then re-evaluation, that wording wasn’t used in June when the council decided the evening start time would begin in August.

Gill said he understood the vote to mean keeping the 6 p.m. start time through February, then discussing the rest of the year.

“At that time, there could be another vote,” Gill said.

Ward 8 Councilman Randy Warren indicated support for 6 p.m., saying residents already are complaining on social media that the council only moved the start time to 6 p.m. to get votes for the new Capital Improvements Program and now that voters said yes, wants to return to 2 p.m.

Ward 2 Councilman Kelly Harris said the council had better participation at 2 p.m.

“I have not seen much difference,” he said, of residential attendance at meetings at 2 p.m. versus 6 p.m.

Gill said the council could review the start time in early 2025, deciding whether it wanted to stay with 6 p.m. for meetings beginning in March. Council members who want to keep the 6 p.m. start would have to initiate that action, he said. Mayor Stan Booker said his understanding is that meetings would return to 2 p.m. when the six-month period expired in February. But, Warren said the council’s action just said members would re-evaluate the 6 p.m. time, not that meetings would return to 2 p.m.

City Attorney John Andrew said no matter what the council decided, members had to vote to suspend city code to hold any 2025 meeting at 6 p.m. because that code specifies 2 p.m. Blazek-Scherler said when the council voted to finish the 2024 year at 6 p.m., she filed a special meeting notice to notify the public what had been posted as 2 p.m. on the 2024 meeting notice would change to 6 p.m.

Council members ultimately voted to waive city code so the start time could be 6 p.m., but also directed city staff to bring back an amended ordinance to replace 2 p.m. with 6 p.m. That would allow the city clerk to file the public meeting notice with a 6 p.m. time, while allowing the council to reconsider whether they wanted to stay with that time time beyond February.