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By Jorge Casuso

May 27 -- If you plan to give the City Council an earful over the proposed preferential parking zone on Tuesday’s agenda, better keep your comments down to two minutes, even if you are the only speaker.

That’s because new rules of order and procedure approved on May 22 to shorten the council’s often marathon-long sessions will go into effect Tuesday night.

Under the rules, all public speakers have two minutes, instead of the current three, to address the council. The old rules limited speakers to two minutes only if there were more than 15 speakers interested in addressing an item or a total of 40 during the meeting.

“Despite the best efforts of the Mayors, Council members and City staff to maximize efficiency without forsaking public process, the meetings often run into the early morning hours, when most members of the pubic are unable to participate,” staff wrote in its report to the council.

“In part, this reality reflects the volume of City business, which is huge relative to the City’s population. It also reflects the community’s commitment to process and participation, values which all concerned share and honor.”

The new rules also limit speakers who submit late chits to one minute. In addition, discussion items introduced after 11 p.m. would require a two-thirds vote in order to be heard.

The council, however, did not limit the time its members can deliberate.

Staff noted that a current provision allows the council, with a two-thirds vote, “to limit the amount of time that each Council member may spend stating his or her views on a particular agenda item.”

The Lookout, which has been regularly covering council meeting for more than nine years, is unaware of the provision ever having been used.

The changes come after several unsuccessful attempts to halt late night meetings that included minor rule changes and even a failed lawsuit initiated by two council members.

In late 2003, Council members Bob Holbrook and Herb Katz filed a class action lawsuit in Superior court charging that council meetings that run past the 11 p.m. curfew violate the Brown Act by in effect prohibiting members of the public from participating.

The suit listed the start and end times of all council meetings held between January and August of 2003 -- four of the 18 meetings lasted until after 1 a.m. Eight of the remaining meetings ran until after midnight, and the last recorded meeting on August 12 ran from 5:55 p.m. until 2:55 a.m. -- the equivalent of a nine-hour workday.

The case was thrown out. (“Judge Tosses Out Suit to Halt Late Night City Council Meetings,” July 16, 2004)

Later that year, the council tweaked the rules, but the changes failed to significantly shortencouncil meetings that routinely run past midnight.