By Geoffrey Cubbage | Better Government Association
A year of City Council meetings since the 2023 elections hasn’t seen much change in the body’s time management: Roughly one-third of regular meeting time, from the end of public comment to adjournment, is still spent on honorary, non-binding resolutions, much as it was under the Lightfoot administration.
What has changed is the frequency with which the body meets. City Council has held multiple regular meetings in six of the past twelve months, compared to only two months per year in which the Council held multiple meetings during the three Lightfoot years for which full digital recordings exist. Johnson’s first year in office has also seen more special sessions called: seven since last May, compared to three in the year previous.
The result has been a seesaw of meetings, some of which are more than half comprised of honorary speeches and others of which are entirely spent on binding legislative matters.
Since inauguration on May 15, 2023, the current Council has held 23 regular meetings, totalling roughly 52 and a half hours of official business. (Totals do not include the pledge of allegiance, invocation, and public comment period that precede meetings. Those introductory matters typically add another 30 to 45 minutes to each meeting.)
Under Mayor Brandon Johnson, the body has spent roughly 17 hours on honorary, non-binding resolutions, and just under 36 hours on binding legislation. All told, 32% of the Council’s time in session has been devoted to honorary matters. During the three years of Mayor Lightfoot’s administration for which digital recordings are available, the Council spent 36% of its time on non-binding or honorary matters.
Those totals do not include appointments to city positions, which often include tributary speeches similar to resolutions, but which conclude in an official, binding action by the Council.
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