The business of getting down to business for the Ringgold City Council these days has meetings lasting until 10 or 11 p.m. Then, the council goes into executive session, sometimes leaving Ringgold City Hall at midnight.
"Apparently, meetings have been running longer lately," said Councilman Nick Millwood, who joined the council in January. "We had a big break before the first of the year. We had a lot of backlogged material. There's just so much stuff going on."
Millwood said citizens' issues come up first on the agenda.
"As far as citizen participation, I would like to have electronic memos so people can see what we are seeing [in the way of documents being considered or studied]," said Millwood. "It would be so much easier to show them what we are doing."
He said the council has had some fairly heated discussions, but overall that's a good thing.
"It can be tense and uncomfortable at times, but I think that's best," said Millwood. "It would be nice to streamline meetings."
Millwood said he would like to have a city of Ringgold Facebook page on which to post agendas prior to meetings. That way, citizens could comment on Facebook about their thoughts and be more prepared for meetings ahead of time, he said - Millwood said he would like to see more citizen participation in Ringgold city government.
"Technology would be the way to go," said Councilman Earl Henderson, who is also three months into his term on the Ringgold City Council. "People don't like change, so to incorporate it would take time. We could incorporate participation in and still keep a handle on the length of meetings. Some of the meetings have lasted an extremely long time. Sometimes we just need to make a decision and move on."
He said some decisions take longer than others.
"I think all of us [Ringgold City Council] want to make the best decision to help the city and we all have different personalities," said Henderson. "Personally, I'm still going through a learning curve.
"I would like to see meetings not last as long. The better we are prepared, the less time it would take."
However, he noted that Ringgold has been through a lot with the tornado last year and a lot needs to be discussed as a result.
Vice Mayor Randall Franks said in recent weeks he has noticed meetings increasing in length.
"We are elected to conduct the business of city government on behalf of our residents to the best of our abilities," said Franks. "At times, the topics that are brought before us require more discussion to come to a decision that honors that commitment."
He said he thinks longer discussions on policy should occur in council work sessions, which are also open for public attendance, and business meetings should be for council and staff to briefly present information on agenda items.
"We welcome the involvement and attendance of any residents to our meetings," said Franks. "There is even a time for public comment at the beginning of our agenda if a resident wishes to speak on an issue not already on our agenda. I do wish more residents came. We have a core group of people who do join us for our meetings and we are always glad to hear from them."
He said the council and city's staff work to enhance the Ringgold community and encourage residents to join in the effort.
Mayor Joe Barger said he likes to allow citizens to comment for as long as they want at meetings.
"We have mixed opinions on the council," said Barger. "It took more time to cover stormwater, for example. I think more people are coming to the meetings now to see what's happening. We want to work to help people."