A guide to attending Canton City Council meetings

Canton City Council’s meeting lasted 13 minutes Monday night. In that time, members paused to remember a prominent attorney who had died, prayed, pledged allegiance, and passed seven ordinances, unanimously, without debate or comment. There is seldom debate or comment.

Public Speaks can lengthen a meeting by 10 to 20 minutes, depending on the number of speakers who sign up to address council. But two people who said they wanted to speak were not in the council chamber Monday night when their names were called.

There are maybe a dozen of us who regularly attend Canton City Council meetings, and we know that you have to go to the committee meetings prior to City Council to understand any issue coming before council, or hear any council member ask a question or express an opinion.

The committee meetings usually begin between 6 and 6:30 p.m., depending on the work that comes before the committees on any given meeting night.

At the committee meetings, all members of council sit at a table in the rear of the council chamber. Various committee leaders call their committees to order, and, more often than not, they call upon a member of Mayor Tom Bernabei’s administration to explain legislation they are considering. That’s because most of the legislation comes from the mayor’s administration.

Here is how to find out when the committees meet. Go to: https://cantonohio.gov/council/?pg=agendas

Click on the date of the next meeting. Go to the last page of that agenda. There you will find the time for the committee meetings to start.

If you go to City Council only in time for the 7 p.m. start of the City Council meeting, you will see and hear little, and miss much.