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Council debates shifting meetings to first and third Mondays; code and compensation carry implications
Summary
Council member Sean proposed holding council meetings on the first and third Mondays instead of weekly; staff and counsel warned the change would implicate the city code and compensation rules and would require a code review and ordinance amendments before implementation.
Council member Sean proposed changing the council’s meeting schedule from every Monday to meetings on the first and third Mondays, arguing time could be used more efficiently and comparing Lebanon to neighboring towns that meet less frequently: "What I'm proposing is that we meet on the first and third Mondays."
Multiple council members and staff raised procedural and legal implications. A staff speaker and others said the city code currently requires ordinances to start in committee and the timing of committee and council meetings affects how matters are processed. One speaker pointed out that compensation for council members is tied to number of meetings and "the state law says we can't change compensation of elected officials between elections." Several speakers recommended performing a code review rather than making an immediate schedule change.
Participants discussed possible models (first/third, second/fourth or committee-of-the-whole structures), noted towns that use different schedules, and suggested the historic district ordinances as a starting point for code cleanup. The council did not vote on a scheduling change at this meeting; members agreed more work is necessary, including reviewing code language and compensation rules, before any formal change could be posted for 2026 meeting scheduling.
