The city of McGregor will move from one to two city council meetings per month on a three-month trial basis, starting in June.

The item was number 18 of 19 items on the May 20 regular meeting agenda. By that time, the meeting was roughly 2.5 hours in, with a possible closed session still remaining.

“All of you know we’ve been having a lot of special meetings just to accommodate a lot of the things that need to be done for development and for special needs of the city. Tonight’s meeting is long,” said mayor Anne Kruse.

She noted it would be beneficial for city staff, council members and the public to have more frequent planned meetings “instead of having spotty special meetings whenever. With the idea that, hopefully, the meetings wouldn’t go as long.”

The trial basis proposal was brought up at the request of city clerk Patti Ruff and economic development lead Brandi Crozier.

“I think it will help our work flow in the office here as well,” Crozier said. “In three months, or less, we’ll know if it’s worthwhile or not.”

Two meetings per month could also space out heftier topics. Last week, for example, included a presentation by The McGregor Project and multiple updates from Davy Engineering on current or potential city projects.

For the next three months, meetings will be held on the first and third Wednesdays, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Meetings had only been held the third Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

“Otherwise, I don’t know how you stagger it, and we already have the third Wednesday established,” Crozier said.

According to Kruse, McGregor’s city code does not include a specific number of meetings, nor call out the dates or times. During the trial period, the meetings on the first Wednesdays will likely be called “special meetings.”

“Then, after that experiment, if you wanted to continue with it, you could, by resolution, set them as regular,” she explained.