By Brooklynn Wong
To the delight of many, Item 26 is no more, for now. The controversial item brought before the Anaheim City Council by Mayor Harry Sidhu sought to regulate the amount of time that Councilmembers have to debate agenda items.
Currently the Councilmembers have unlimited time to debate, which some say is healthy and as it should be, but others say there need to be rules to keep meetings moving and productive.
Sidhu first brought the idea forward at the April 16 Council Meeting, saying several other cities he looked into give City Councilmembers time limits.
At that meeting, Councilman Jordan Brandman suggested tabling this proposal until the next meeting, having it as the last item on the agenda and seeing if it still seemed necessary. That motion passed.
But when the next meeting came around last Tuesday (May 7), the item showed up on the agenda as, withdrawn from the agenda.
Mayor Sidhu explained his rationale, saying he had come the conclusion that the Council “can govern ourselves without this as a hard and fast rule.” However, he still wanted to “informally” follow what he had suggested previously, by urging Councilmembers to keep their speaking on items to five minutes per person, and requested that the City Clerk signal to them via a light if they had gone on too long.
Though this was not a complete abolition of what Sidhu had proposed previously, many of those who had been opposed to that, praised him for making a good choice.
One resident said the Mayor had been “trying to impede people,” and was glad he had somewhat recanted.
Duane Roberts, a former City Council candidate who speaks at most meetings, said he hopes “it stays off the agenda indefinitely.”
The Council met again May 14, after press time. They will next meet Tuesday, June 4.
