There is a continuous and never settled argument among agencies and the public they serve about when to have meetings. Some people are all in favor of day-time meetings because it fits their schedule, and others in favor of evening meetings because they work during the day. Most people do work during the day, but significant numbers work other hours. If an agency always has meetings at the same time, then the other group of people will be left out, always. Many of the issues considered by agencies have a direct and significant impact on low-income people, and excluding them by scheduling a meeting when they would have to take off work is not good governance.

A few agencies handle this by varying their schedule, sometimes day time and sometime evening.

But there is an even better idea. CADA, Capital Area Development Authority, is a city-state chartered entity that owns or manages residential and commercial properties in the downtown/midtown area. On October 3, they had an outreach/engagement meeting to gather input on the Envision O Street project. Instead of one meeting, they had two, one in the early afternoon (12:00-1:30) and the other in the evening (6:00-7:30). I think this is a model that should be used for all public engagement.

Whether two meetings could also work for board meetings, where legal decisions are made, is less clear, but it could certainly be explored.