To the editor:

I address the following to the Cape Coral City Council:

Dear Mayor and Councilmembers,

I’m writing to respectfully ask that you please reconsider the decision made at the Wednesday, April 10th Committee of the Whole meeting to move Regular City Council Meetings from 4:30 p.m. to 9 a.m.

While I understand the reasons provided by the members who supported this change, I strongly believe the public benefit and opportunity for in-person engagement FAR outweighs the arguments that “city business should be done during business hours” and “evening meetings require staff to stay long hours.”

The extra hours have always been part of the job for salaried employees, and supervisors can find better solutions such as flexing schedules if needed.

Impact on Large Groups of Residents Based on Job Flexibility:

The opportunity for entire occupational sectors to attend and provide in-person input will effectively be stifled by this change of meeting time to 9 a.m. for Regular City Council Meetings.

Here are a few job categories that come to mind immediately (but MANY more with normal working hours that are generally inflexible will be impacted):

Educators

City and County workers

First Responders who work day shifts

Healthcare workers who work day shifts

In order for teachers to attend morning Regular Council Meetings, for example, they would need to take time off work and potentially use paid personal/sick time. Most teachers will opt not to do this simply because of the work required to prepare lesson plans for a substitute — let alone the very real out-of-pocket cost of having to use a personal day in order to participate in-person at Council meetings.

What about City of Cape Coral staff or first responders who want to show strength in numbers by attending in-person or have the benefit of speaking in-person when issues such as compensation and other items that impact them are on the agenda? Physical presence often has a very real impact.

Will City of Cape Coral staff and first responders be able to attend morning Council meetings and flex their schedules without effectively paying out of pocket by using paid time off?

Most of the time, work logistics simply don’t allow for this (e.g., first responders likely won’t have coverage available to take their shifts, so flexing work schedules would be a non-starter).

Even those who do have the ability to flex their schedule with supervisor approval may feel uncomfortable attending morning meetings “as a citizen” during normal work hours. Many observers will (unfairly) say, “Shouldn’t they be at work?”

The Council represents regular working people who should have a chance to attend Regular City Council Meetings in-person if they so choose. With a 9 a.m. start, the vast majority of these folks will find it very difficult to participate.

I urge you to please reconsider and bring this topic back up for discussion again at the April 24th Committee of the Whole meeting.

Respectfully,

Charlie Pease

Cape Coral