The Iola City Council will continue to meet on the second and fourth Mondays of each month at the New Community Building at Riverside Park.
The decision came after a debate Monday among Council members and Iolan Larry Walden, who first brought up the idea of the city switching its meeting dates.
Walden’s reasoning is that Iolans have five governing bodies that rely in some capacity on taxes — the city, Allen County, Allen Community College, the hospital and USD 257.
The hospital, county and ACC all meet on different nights of the month. However, USD 257 and City Council both meet at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Monday of the month.
Because the city established those meeting nights in 2012, after going from a three-member commission to an eight-member council, Walden figured it was up to the city to change its meeting nights.
Council members, after hearing a number of options given by City Administrator Sid Fleming, thought otherwise.
The first option, switching to the first and third Monday of the month, conflicted with 4-H and Family Community Education meetings.
Moving the meetings to other sites — the old Trinity United Methodist Church, the college and Bowlus Fine Arts Center all were investigated — created other issues, Fleming said, such as accessibility, parking and having to move recording equipment in order to broadcast the Council meetings each month.
Walden opined that since the Community Building was owned by the city, it should have priority over such things as 4-H meetings.
“I’m not opposed to moving the dates, but I oppose the idea we should even be considering moving people out of here,” Councilman Jon Wells responded. “This isn’t necessarily our building. This is the people’s building. We’re merely representing them. To say, ‘Tough, sorry kids, we’re adults, let us do our business here, have fun and find something new,’ philosophically rubs me the wrong way.”
Councilwoman Nancy Ford also disagreed with Walden’s contention, noting the value 4-H offers youth by encouraging them to become active in the community.
She noted that Council meetings are broadcast on YouTube and via the city’s public access television channel, allowing residents to attend school board meetings and watch the Council sessions later.
“Anybody can watch that and anybody can come and be a part if they want to,” she said. “I don’t think we should move our meetings, I don’t think we should change buildings and I really don’t think we should be kicking out groups from a building they’ve been using.”
“I didn’t ask you to kick people out,” Walden responded. “I simply said change the meeting dates. I didn’t say leave this facility. If want you to keep the camera here, keep the camera here. That camera works on Wednesdays, or Thursdays, or Fridays, or believe it or not, the weekend. It works all the time.”
Ford said Walden has been the only resident who has brought up the idea of switching meeting dates, and brought the motion to a vote.
Councilman Aaron Franklin said he preferred to see the council be flexible, “but at the same time, when I ran for this seat, I knew the date and time. It’s not an issue I want to force on the council. I knew what I signed up for.”
