City Council will stay with 6 p.m. meetings

Lawton City Council will continue its evening meetings.

Council members made the decision to meet at 6 p.m. months ago, but had planned to evaluate the return to night sessions to determine if that time was working, or the body needed to restore its 2 p.m. start time. The consensus of five of the eight council members: 6 p.m. is the best time to hold regular meetings.

The council had been poised to make that decision permanent several months ago, but Ward 4 Councilman George Gill said when the council made its initial decision in mid-2024, it specified a six-month trial. Gill and Ward 7 Councilwoman Sherene L. Williams — who, along with Ward 2 Councilman R.L. Smith voted no — questioned whether there were enough benefits to continue the change.

Gill said there aren’t any benefits to holding the meeting at 6 p.m., adding the city also is incurring extra expenses with evening sessions. He asked the body to return the regular sessions to 2 p.m., a meeting time the council initially adopted in 2020 before dropping it in August 2024.

But, Ward 8 Councilman Randy Warren reminded his colleagues of the “True North” mandate for city staff, which notes “we exist to serve citizens.” Warren said residents can more easily attend evening sessions, adding every peer city (cities of comparable size to Lawton) holds evening sessions.

“It works,” Warren said, adding evening sessions make it easier for citizens to participate in their local government, and Lawton’s city charter specifies the council should select a meeting time that is convenient for the public.

Williams said the council is obligated to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars.

“We’re spending more money because of the (evening) meetings,” she said, of a cost estimated at $60,000 annually for city staff to participate in meetings after the end of their work day, money she said could be used for other things.

Gill said some issues could be handled with special evening sessions: “D&D” meetings (public hearings for the owners of dilapidated properties being considered for condemnation) could be held at 6 p.m. to make it easier for owners to attend. Noting he hasn’t seen any more people at the 6 p.m. meetings, Gill said not all Oklahoma cities meet in the evening (Oklahoma City meets at 8:30 a.m.).

Williams said she has seen less people at the evening meetings, noting she counts people attending every council meeting and, after accounting for city staff, she knows more people attended meetings when they were at 2 p.m.

Mayor Stan Booker said last year he wanted the council to try 6 p.m. sessions as a way to encourage residential participation, as well as make it easier for those who might want to run for public office but would be stymied by mid-afternoon meetings.

The council had been holding evening meetings (first 7 p.m., then 6 p.m.) for decades before members voted in 2020 to move those sessions to 2 p.m.