Page 10 THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2020 ~FLASHBACK~ Twentieth in a series of S City Council okays meeting start time adjustments By Adam Swift ay goodbye to City Council subcommittee meeta star reliever who enjoys pitching like the Revere girls softball fans enjoy watching. Shown above, is Chrinta Polsolletti, a star relief pitcher who is showing her form in a GBL softball game of yesteryear. PLAY AL ellie BAL stata aa star reliever who enjoys pitching like the ssta A BALL: We w ar re eve ve re ever w ho en oy piit who enjoys p tc wisish, bbut oys wis tc buut heeererre’e’s a looooook k at cchhing ng like ke the he ings at 3:30 p.m. On Monday night, the council approved a proposed order presented by Ward 6 Councillor Richard Serino ensuring that the bulk of municipal public meetings start no earlier than 5 p.m. The 5 p.m. start time was a compromise between Serino and some other members of the council’s Ways and Means Subcommittee, with Serino initially seeking to start public meetings no earlier than 6 p.m. “I spoke with councillors about bringing this back from 6 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.,” said Serino, who made the motion as a measure to increase public participation in municipal meetings. “Councillor [Gerry] Visconti suggested the move, because if work for City Hall employees ends at 5 p.m., waiting until 5:30 p.m. is not as bad as waiting until 6 p.m. [for a meeting] and it would be cutting overtime costs.” But Ward 3 Councillor Arthur Guinasso suggested pushing back further to 5 p.m., since together,” said Guinasso. Serino said he wasn’t exactly thrilled to push the motion back to 5 p.m. start times, but said he was willing to accept Guinasso’s amendment in the spirit of compromise. “I appreciate [Serino’s] hard work and truly appreciate his compromise to be more in favor of 5 p.m.,” said Councillor-atLarge Anthony Zambuto. Serino said 5 p.m. is a start, ARTHUR GUINASSO Ward 3 Councillor it would allow more time for council subcommittee meetings on the same nights as regularly scheduled full council meetings. Regular council meetings typically begin at 6 p.m., with subcommittees starting as early as 3:30 or 4 p.m. on some weeks. “That would give us an hour before the council meeting, which would encompass a lot of our subcommittee meetings that could be conducted on the Monday nights when we are all and that he could look to revisit the issue a few years on down the line. He also said he would like to see the City of Revere continue to give residents access to take part in meetings through Zoom, even when the Covid-19 crisis is over, as a way to encourage public participation. While the new order will apply to the City Council and planning and zoning boards, the License Commission and Site Plan Review Committees will be able to keep their earlier start times. Serino said those committees typically involve industries where the people involved in the meetings are more easily able to attend earlier meetings.
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