Safety Harbor City Commission meetings will start at 7:00PM

Safety Harbor City Commission meetings will start, and end, a little earlier in the future, as the commission is expected to pass an ordinance on second reading later this week moving the start time of the meetings from 7:30 to 7:00 p.m.

The change was originally suggested by Mayor Joe Ayoub shortly after he took office in March, and following some discussion among the commission, Ordinance 2017-19 was approved on first reading last month.

“If all goes well, we will begin 7pm meetings on June 19,” City Manager Matt Spoor said during the reading of the agenda item on May 15, adding that city staff strongly recommended approval of the ordinance.

The decision to change the meeting time came with a few loopholes, namely the need to draft and approve an ordinance repealing the existing start time before the commission could establish a new time.

“The reason why it’s an ordinance repealing the existing requirement is codified in your City Code that your meetings will start at 7:30,” City Attorney Nicole Nate explained.

“So, the only way to take it out is by an ordinance taking it out,” she added. “Once you have something established by ordinance, the only way you can change it is by ordinance.”

Commissioner Andy Zodrow said he was amenable to the new time, but he expressed concern that changing the ordinance could allow future commissions to move the meetings to an unreasonable hour.

“I don’t have a problem with the 7:00 p.m. and I’m gonna support this,” he said. “But I do have a concern that it makes it easier now to move the time of the meeting to maybe a time that wouldn’t be suitable for a lot of the people in this city.”

“I would hate to see the city one day we’re going to move time to 2:00 p.m. and that would limit a lot of people who would want to be a commissioner because it would be held during regular working hours.”

Mayor Ayoub and Commissioner Cliff Merz concurred with Zodrow’s concern, but the commission ultimately approved the ordinance, with a few minor tweaks, by a vote of 5-0.

The ordinance will come before the commission or a second and final reading this Thursday, June 8.

If the ordinance is passed, as expected, Thursday’s meeting would be the last one to begin at 7:30; the next meeting on June 19 would be the first to start at 7:00 p.m.

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