Does someone know the reason why the Oklahoma City Council meets at 8:30am? I searched around and could not find an answer.

I have found the meeting time creates two issues:

1. The OKC citizens cannot routinely attend because most of them are working during the meeting. I never attend because I cannot take off from work for a few hours every week.

2. Most of the citizens cannot be on the council because they are working during the meeting time and cannot take time off.

I looked up most of the cities around OKC and a few others in the state and all of the meetings are in the evening.

Moore 6:30pm
Norman 6:30pm
Mustang 7:00pm
Edmond 5:30pm
Yukon 7:00pm
Tulsa 6:00pm
Owasso 6:30pm
Stillwater 5:30pm
Ardmore 7:00pm
Ponca City 5:30pm
Shawnee 7:00pm

Would be great if all city meetings were held in the evening.

There is no perfect solution, but you are looking at all the wrong peer cities. Larger cities have way to many issues to deal with to start meetings at 7 pm.

Norman recently had Council meetings that went until 1 am. Not a good way to attract people either.

There is no perfect solution, but you are looking at all the wrong peer cities. Larger cities have way to many issues to deal with to start meetings at 7 pm.

Norman recently had Council meetings that went until 1 am. Not a good way to attract people either.
Tulsa is a peer city. I am skeptical that OKC has that much more "business" than T town. If that is the case then hold the meetings on Saturday. Elected officials work for the voters, not the other way around.

Tulsa is a peer city. I am skeptical that OKC has that much more "business" than T town. If that is the case then hold the meetings on Saturday. Elected officials work for the voters, not the other way around.

Compared with Tulsa, OKC has 1.5x the population and 3x the area. Saturday meetings won’t work because you’re taking away a weekend day with family from everyone with business before the Council, their paid experts, citizens wanting to speak, council members’ staff, city employees who present reports, etc. Since employees work 5 days per week, what weekday are they given off? And ask any council member - they’ll tell you they never stop working - their phones ring 7 days a week.

And don’t forget—We don’t exactly live in a universally 8 - 5 work culture any more. Plenty of citizens work in the evenings, and many professions require 24-hour shift rotations.

Compared with Tulsa, OKC has 1.5x the population and 3x the area. Saturday meetings won’t work because you’re taking away a weekend day with family from everyone with business before the Council, their paid experts, citizens wanting to speak, council members’ staff, city employees who present reports, etc. Since employees work 5 days per week, what weekday are they given off? And ask any council member - they’ll tell you they never stop working - their phones ring 7 days a week.
My comment was solely addressing voter involvement with the city council at council meetings. As noted by an earlier poster, Tulsa and Norman both have their meetings at night which means experts, staff, etc. are working outside of their normal schedules as well. For a citizen to be involved either to speak or attend they most generally have to take off from work. While there are those who work nights, weekends, shift workers, I get that. A plurality of workers though work in the 7-5 time frame with the majority if not all of their hours working M-F. A Saturday meeting could lend itself to a whole family attending and not just one member of said family.
City employees working an occcasional Saturday would earn at least comp time to take off on a day of their choosing. If the council member is working 7 days a week anyway, a Saturday meeting is a moot point.

The Council tried evening meetings in the past, citizen attendance was less then day time meetings !!

I wonder if a compromise could be that they allowed video comments from citizens. Some people really aren't going for the entire meeting but only wish to make a comment on a certain item or two. While a letter to council would be similar, a video message would allow someone to have their voice to be felt during the meeting. Just post a deadline to have your video submitted.

I wonder if a compromise could be that they allowed video comments from citizens. Some people really aren't going for the entire meeting but only wish to make a comment on a certain item or two. While a letter to council would be similar, a video message would allow someone to have their voice to be felt during the meeting. Just post a deadline to have your video submitted.

Check this out: https://www.fastcompany.com/40531300/this-site-lets-you-have-a-voice-in-urban-planning-without-attending-inconvenient-meetings

This Site Lets You Have A Voice In Urban Planning Without Attending Inconvenient Meetings
CoUrbanize opens up public comment to everyone, not just the few people who are able to go to planning meetings.