Muscatine City Council moves regular meetings to Tuesdays, approves array of routine measures

The Muscatine City Council on Sept. 4 voted 6-1 to change its regular meeting night from Thursday to Tuesday and to begin meetings at 5:30 p.m., saying the change should give council members more weekend time to review agendas and give staff more predictable scheduling. Council member Gendrich cast the lone dissent.

The move was part of a broader set of routine items the council approved without extensive debate, including first readings of two vacation ordinances for undeveloped right-of-way, a resolution assessing unpaid abatement fees, extension of an industrial contract for the transfer-station landfill, authorization of a $71,712 vehicle purchase, and acceptance of a $500,543 federal transit operating assistance joint participation agreement.

Council member Gendrich led the opposition to changing the meeting night. “I’m opposed to this. I think it’s a bad idea,” Gendrich said, arguing that Thursday meetings have functioned for decades and that changing to Tuesday would compress council members’ preparation time.…