The More Things Change . . .

The Common Council held its organizational meeting tonight, at which it reviewed and adopted the rules of order for 2026. Perhaps the biggest change going forward is that Council meetings will be held later in the month than they have been for as long as anyone can remember. The regular monthly meeting will be held on the fourth Tuesday of the month instead of the third Tuesday, and the informal meeting will be held on the third Monday of the month instead of the second Monday. A reason mentioned for this change is to avoid having informal meetings take place on Monday holidays. According to Gossips' calculations, moving the Council meetings back a week doesn't entirely eliminate the problem. In 2026 and 2027, Martin Luther King, Jr., Day and Presidents Day both fall on the third Monday of the month. The only holiday the change appears to work for is Columbus/Indigenous Peoples Day.  

Council president Margaret Morris suggested that the time of the Council meetings might be changed back to 7:00 p.m., which up until 2022 had been the usual time for Council meetings. Morris polled the councilmembers, and the majority of them preferred 6:00 p.m. or had no preference. It appears the meeting time will remain 6:00 p.m., although toward the end of the meeting, Henry Haddad (First Ward), who had stated his preference for 7:00 p.m., argued that the decision about the meeting time should not be made based on what members of the Council wanted but rather on what the community preferred. He opined that meeting at 7:00 p.m. might better serve the community. 

The rules of order prescribe that, except in "unavoidable or unforeseen circumstances," all resolutions and proposed laws must be introduced at the informal meeting, and that every resolution or law must have at least one member of the Council as its sponsor, whose responsibility it is to present the legislation and explain its intent and the reason for its consideration. Having the informal meeting be the time for introducing new resolutions and legislation is what the informal meeting was intended for back in 2000 when the practice of having an informal meeting was initiated. 

In January 2021, Tom DePietro eliminated all standing committees in favor of having all department heads report to the full Council at the informal meeting. Morris is reversing that and bringing back standing committees, although not the same ones that existed before. Morris has designated five committees:

• Finance--Treasurer's office and economic development
• Safety--Police Department and Fire Department
• Services--Youth Department and Senior Center
• Code and Infrastructure--Code Enforcement Office and Department of Public Work
• Legal--most resolutions and all proposed laws will pass through this committee

Every councilmember is required to serve on at least one committee. Committee assignments have not yet been determined and will be announced at a later date.

The majority and minority leaders for this year and the next were announced. Dominic Merante (Fifth Ward), who previously served as minority leader, will now be the majority leader. (This is what can happen when all the councilmembers are of the same party.) Mohammed Rony (Second Ward) will be the minority leader. The duties of the majority and minority leaders are serving on the Industrial Development Agency (IDA) and the Hudson Community Development and Planning Agency (HCDPA). 

The Council will meet on January 20 at 6:00 p.m. to vote on paying the bills and on some other matters. 

COPYRIGHT 2026 CAROLE OSTERINK