The Glendale City Council on Oct. 14 approved Resolution R25-96, amending the council guidelines to impose an 18-month waiting period before topics previously discussed at a workshop can be reintroduced.

The change, presented by Deputy City Manager Thomas Adkins, passed after debate over whether a narrow override should let three council members reintroduce a topic within the 18-month window. Council member Lupe Conchas proposed that override; the amendment failed on a roll-call vote and the council then approved the original resolution as written.

Adkins told the council the resolution codifies a consensus reached at the Sept. 9 workshop to set the waiting period. “The resolution before you amends your city council guidelines to include this waiting period,” he said during his staff report.

In arguing for an exception, Conchas said workshops do not include public comment and an override would allow the council to revisit matters for which new laws or facts later emerge. “There is no public comment during workshops, so we would have the opportunity to either pass or not pass something in consensus without hearing from our residents for a year and a half,” she said, proposing that three council members be allowed to bring a topic back before the 18 months elapse.

Opponents said the amendment would allow a minority to repeatedly reopen issues that a majority had already considered. “When something comes before us and a majority of the council decides to either move it forward or not move it forward, we have a majority that already said that,” Council Member Bart Turner said. Council members also raised concerns that the amendment would create extra work for staff.

On the amendment to allow reintroduction with three council members, the roll-call votes recorded in the meeting transcript show Leandro Baldenegro voting no and Lupe Conchas voting yes; additional recorded votes on the amendment produced a 2–4 result and the amendment failed. After discussion, the council then voted to adopt R25-96 as drafted; final roll-call results recorded five ayes and two no votes, and the resolution carried.

The council did not specify any narrower exceptions beyond existing procedures that allow three members to call a special meeting; several council members noted that mechanism remains available if an urgent legal or factual change occurs. The resolution will become part of the council guidelines and governs how workshop-consensus items are returned to the agenda.

The item drew substantial floor time and multiple speakers; the council debated the trade-off between stability and the ability to respond to new information. The council did not adopt the proposed three-member override and left in place the 18-month waiting period that Adkins had presented.