Richmond City Council discusses shifting meeting start time to 5 p.m.

Richmond City Council members debated changes to their meeting schedule Tuesday night, discussing potential adjustments to improve public participation and ensure efficient governance.

A central point of discussion was whether to shift the council’s start time to 5 p.m. and enforce an 11 p.m. cutoff to prevent meetings from running late into the night. Councilmembers expressed accessibility concerns, particularly for working families who may find it difficult to attend evening sessions.

Vice Mayor Cesar Zepeda felt it was crucial to have an open discussion about modifying the start time. The decision was made over email, and Zepeda wanted to make the process more transparent and allow public input. He also wanted to consider suggestions and comments from other councilmembers.

“The goal of moving the time is important because we want to make sure that we have more public participation,” Zepeda said. “As you see, we had a room full of people earlier today, and now it’s 10 o’clock, and we only have a few people left over here.”

District 5 Councilmember Sue Wilson said one of the challenges is trying to decide what works best for working people without any actual data on their schedules.

“I tried to look into this on my own,” Wilson said. “What percentage of Americans work a traditional 9-to-5, Monday-to-Friday schedule and would have trouble getting here by 5 p.m.? The best estimate I found suggests that only about 25–30 percent of Americans work that schedule, meaning 70 percent do not.”

Wilson said what really hampers democratic participation is when council meetings run into the evening or early the following day.

“Instead of focusing solely on who might miss the meeting because it starts at 5 p.m., I’m more concerned about people who miss out because it runs too late,” Wilson said. “I’d like to try it and see if it increases participation.”

District 1 Councilmember Jamelia Brown voiced support for starting meetings earlier, citing concerns about lengthy sessions discouraging participation and city staff retention.

“I also agreed in favor of starting the meetings early for the very reasons that were mentioned this evening about folks saying we need to start earlier so we can end sooner,” Brown said. “But I also believe it plays into the retention of folks not wanting to come to a city that has eight-hour council meetings.”

Brown emphasized efficiency, urging councilmembers to submit questions to departments in advance while still restating them publicly for transparency. Brown also called for stricter adherence to time limits, noting that prolonged discussions often extend meetings well beyond scheduled adjournment times.

“Just being very conscious of how we are conducting our meetings would also play a great part in making our meetings more efficient, to get folks out of here at a decent hour,” Brown said. “Whether we start at five or 6:30, if this meeting is anything-goes, we’ll still be here until 10:30 regardless if we start two hours early.”

Longtime Richmond resident Don Gosney sharply criticized the council for moving its meeting start time from 6:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. without public notice or input.

Gosney alleged that the decision was made behind closed doors, communicated through private emails, and implemented without transparency.

Gosney said the earlier start time makes it harder for working residents to participate in city government. “I fully understand that most of you don’t have day jobs, so taking off work isn’t a problem for you,” Gosney said. “I fully understand that a lot of your constituents are part of the vast number in our community that are unemployed or unemployable. But surely you all understand that most people who work for a living don’t even get off work until 5 p.m.”

District 3 Councilmember Doria Robinson pushed back against the comment that implied many constituents were unemployed or unemployable.

“I represent a district of hard-working people, people from Park Plaza, from San Pablo Avenue down to Atchison Village," Robinson said. “Some of them have multiple jobs, and that is offensive. You are not going to come in here and just disparage thousands of hard-working people who are struggling to make their bills and to pay for their houses and get their kids raised. That is disgusting, disgusting.”

A discussion between Richmond City Attorney Dave Aleshire and council members revealed confusion over the procedural requirements for adjusting meeting start times and implementing presentation time limits.

Zepeda pointed out that the item had not appeared on the agenda for the previous week. Instead, the decision had been communicated via email, with staff confirming that all members were available.

“There’s a thing called the Brown Act,” Aleshire said.

Aleshire said no ordinance or resolution formalizing the changes was on that night's agenda. However, he acknowledged that the council had discussed the issue thoroughly and had a clear plan for moving forward.

The council ultimately approved a motion for a six-month experiment to start meetings at 5 p.m., with a hard cutoff time of 11 p.m. The city attorney was tasked with preparing a resolution to formalize these changes.

Aleshire said the council could still call a special meeting next week with an earlier start time with 24-hour notice.

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