Council's holidays to be cut?

BECAUSE yesterday was Presidents Day, all city offices were closed and City Council will not meet on Thursday.

That's right. Council's next session will be March 1. It is part of a tradition in which Council does not meet during weeks of a federal holiday.

"It's always been odd that Council didn't meet in a week in which there is a holiday," said Zack Stalberg, president of political watchdog group Committee of Seventy.

Council President Darrell Clarke had hoped to change the age-old tradition, but said there was a miscommunication between offices.

"The absence of a Council session on the calendar [this] week because of a federal holiday is the result of an oversight in our office," Clarke said. "We are reviewing Council's meeting schedule and will make adjustments so it better enables us to conduct the business of the city."

He's reportedly also interested in breaking up Council's three-month summer recess. His spokeswoman, Jane Roh, said Clarke also wants to schedule more public budget hearings at locations around the city.

Although there is no public meeting this week, there is still a lot of work that gets done, Stalberg said, but he hopes Clarke looks into matter. "I hope he will rethink what has long been a long-standing practice," Stalberg said.