VERO BEACH — For the past year or so, the Vero Beach City Council has generally met at 9:30 a.m. the first Tuesday of the month and at 6 p.m. the third Tuesday of the month, but that schedule will change for February and then change back.
As the city’s issues become increasingly enmeshed with those being considered by the Indian River Board of County Commissioners, members of the Vero Beach City Council wanted to attend the commission meetings, held at 9 a.m. the first three Tuesdays of the month, to keep up with what’s going on.
To that end, the Vero Beach council voted on Jan. 4 to keep evening meetings on Tuesdays but to change mornings to Wednesdays.
Then on Jan. 18, City Clerk Tammy Vock informed the City Council that the Wednesday morning schedule would prevent Mayor Jay Kramer from representing the city at a monthly regional meeting of Treasure Coast municipalities.
So it was voted to move back to the original Tuesday schedule so Kramer could attend the other meetings.
To confuse matters even more, the first meeting of February, on Groundhog Day, Wednesday, Feb. 2, had already been advertised.
So for February, meeting dates will be 9:30 a.m. Wednesday Feb. 2 and, most likely, 6 p.m. Tuesday Feb. 15. Then meetings will change back to all Tuesdays in March.
Mayor Kramer wants the council to handle discussion matters in a workshop setting after the morning meetings, so the council will vote on needed items on the agenda, adjourn and reconvene — sometimes after a lunch break — into a workshop session.
Votes cannot be taken and all the department heads do not need to be present for a workshop unless their input is needed on a particular issue.
The council will meet at the table below the dais to informally discuss matters during the workshop sessions. Public input will be taken throughout the workshop to answer questions or to make suggestions to the council.
Meetings are posted on a calendar on the city’s website, check www.covb.org for the latest schedule.