By Helen Borland / Staff

If veteran Roswell Councilman Jerry Orlans were playing baseball, his batting average on his pet projects would be 1,000 so far in 2010. On Monday, he went two for two.

For the second time since February 17, Orlans fought his lonely, uphill battle with the mayor and other council members to change the days and times of the Roswell City Council meetings. This time he won.

Currently, the Roswell city council meets three times a month: the first and third Mondays are to conduct city business and the second Monday is to address zoning issues.

Orlans changed all that by gaining majority council support to combine zoning issues with one of the regular meetings, reducing the official meetings to twice per month.

Orlans also pushed for moving the meetings from the first and third Mondays to the second and fourth Mondays, and carried the day on that as well.

Mayor Jere Wood was not in favor of the Monday shift, and voiced strong opposition. Wood maintained that the bimonthly committee meeting times coordinate with the council meetings so they would all have to be moved. Wood also opposed the idea of having a council meeting between Christmas and New Year's Day.

As it is, the council had already moved two meetings in 2010 because of federal holidays and they are forced to move two more meetings for the same reason before the end of the year. Orlans date change meant no more meeting dates would have to be altered in 2010, and no meetings would have to be rescheduled at all in 2011.

By a vote of 4-2 -- council members Betty Price and Kent Igleheart voted "no" -- the number of meetings and their respective dates will change, effective June 1. 

"What concerns me is that any regular business would also be on a night with zoning, which comes under my area of Community Development," price said in explaining her opposition to the change. "I see those [zoning] meetings going long, and that concerned me. The time is fine, but I think changing from the first and third to the second and fourth always interferes with Thanksgiving and Christmas, so I don't think we analyzed it adequately," the councilwoman concluded.

In addition, the meeting start time will move up by thirty minutes, from 7:30 to 7:00 p.m.

Any fifth Monday in a month is still designated an open forum at which citizens may be heard before Mayor and Council on matters of public concern.

Contact Helen Borland at hborland@beaconcast.com.