Hollister City Council members Monday agreed to add a third regular meeting to their slate.
Council members voted 3-2 in favor of going from two meetings per month to three meetings. Councilman Marty Richman requested the consideration, and had support from Councilwomen Carol Lenoir and Honor Spencer.
In opening the discussion on the item, Richman pointed out how the council had just spent a lot of time in the same meeting just deciding on appointments of commissioners. He mentioned how there are a lot of required regulations involved with the council that take a good amount of time.
“I’m just worried that we don’t have enough time to fix everything that needs to be fixed,” Richman said, “and I’m a get it fixed person.”
While others talked of merely holding more special meetings, Richman was against that due to scheduling challenges and a lack of public input at that gatherings.
“I want to hear what the public has to say,” he said.
Mayor Ignacio Velazquez and Councilman Rolan Resendiz dissented on the item, though Resendiz made it clear it didn’t bother him to hold a third regular meeting. Velazquez said he preferred holding special meetings to take on additional items and noted how meetings take up a lot of staff time for preparation.
“We all want to get things done,” he said. “That’s why we’re all here.”
Council members agreed to hold the meetings on the first, third and fourth Mondays of the month. Currently, meetings are on the first and third Mondays. January’s schedule had been changed since the Jan. 7 meeting was canceled. This week’s gathering was scheduled as a special meeting.
