In 2011 — after local voters twice rejected smaller governing bodies — Iolans tapped eight local residents to serve on the first city council in more than a century.
But even with the new governing body’s notable early growing pains, one consistent theme prevailed: they all showed up for meetings.
A review of council minutes dating back to April 2011 revealed only twice in that first year did regular or special council meetings have one or more members absent.
That near-perfect attendance mark started to slip over 2012 and 2013, when full attendance became a 50/50 proposition.
ATTENDANCE HAS become a stickier wicket ever since. Out of 61 meetings since 2014, only 15 had full attendance.
That leads to Monday, when a large crowd of residents gathered for the regular monthly meeting, only to be turned away because there weren’t enough council members on hand. Five of the eight members are needed for a quorum to open the meeting; only four showed up.
That marked the second consecutive meeting that only four council members were in attendance. At the Feb. 22 meeting, the Council met quorum only because Beverly Franklin participated via telephone.
SIGNIFICANT items on Monday’s agenda drew the large crowd.
Many in the audience were eagerly anticipating discussions about economic development matters.
Street and Alley Superintendent Dan Leslie noted the Council must approve within the next week a list of mill-and-overlay street projects for 2016.
Another small cluster was awaiting word as to whether Iola would adopt a Cold Weather Rule to prevent utility shutoffs in winter.
Other discussions about water and electric rates briefly had been on the agenda, but were pulled at the last minute.
City officials weren’t aware until late in the afternoon there weren’t enough members on hand for a quorum, so it was too late to send a cancellation notice. Instead, they had to open the building, set up shop with the hopes a fifth member would appear, then sheepishly tell the audience to go home.
