City council meetings will remain at 7:30 p.m.

A proposal to change the starting time of Decorah City Council meetings has failed.

The meetings currently begin at 7:30 p.m., but that means city officials leave work and have to return to City Hall later in the evening.

Supporters of a change in the meeting time say an earlier starting time would allow city employees to come to a city council meeting straight from work, thus saving gas, rather than going home for a time and then returning.  An earlier starting time might also avoid conflicts with other community events.

City council member Randy Schissel said he would support starting city council meetings at 5:30 p.m.

But other city council members, such as Gary Rustad, said they like having time before the city council meeting to hold city committee meetings.  Changing the starting time of the city council meeting to 5:30 p.m., for instance, would mean committee meetings would be held after the city council meetings or on another night.

After discussing the issue, city council member Carolyn Corbin made a motion to change the starting time to 7:00 p.m.--but the motion failed for the lack of a second.