Carmel council delays vote on meeting-policy revisions after debate over agenda control

The Carmel-by-the-Sea City Council held an extended discussion over proposed revisions to the city policy on council meetings, agenda preparation and agenda finalization before deciding to continue the item to a future meeting for additional wordsmithing.

The contested language concerned how the agenda is finalized before public posting. The draft change replaced a provision that said the mayor and mayor pro tem meet with the city administrator and city clerk prior to a meeting to finalize the draft agenda with language stating that the final agenda “shall be approved by the mayor or the mayor’s designee.” Several council members said the change reduced the role of multiple participants in agenda preparation and could concentrate control in the hands of a single official.

Council members exchanged options for revised wording, including restoring a formulation that made clear two people would participate (for example, “the mayor and the mayor pro tem, or their designees, shall finalize the agenda”), moving the provision into the agenda-preparation section, and circulating a clean version of the policy for review. Council members also discussed current practice: staff said an “agenda forecast” is circulated roughly three months in advance and that staff routinely seeks input from council members as the agenda evolves.

After extended discussion about the benefits of multiple voices in agenda preparation and concerns that a future mayor could unilaterally control the agenda, the council voted to continue the policy revision to the next meeting so members and staff could clean up language and circulate it in advance for comment.

Council direction to staff included circulating the revised language to council members in advance and returning a clean, reworded policy at a future meeting for final action.