Unalaska, AK – The Unalaska City Council is changing the way it holds meetings. Starting next week, the council is splitting apart its work sessions and regular business into two different meetings on alternating weeks. The work sessions will take place at the library conference room, and will be held roundtable-style. They'll still be open to the public, and will be held on an as-needed basis.

Mayor Shirley Marquardt said that the change came out of a retreat the council had last weekend. She said the members found they communicated better in a face-to-face environment than they do in the City Council chambers at City Hall, where members sit in a row and have difficulty making eye contact.

"It's just a complete different dynamic," she said. "So it's worth a try--we're going to give it a shot."

The change was suggested by the consultant who led the retreat, who also observed the council's marathon regular meeting last Friday. That meeting lasted more than four hours, and by its end, discussion of a budget amendment had become so convoluted that some council members lost track of what they were voting on, and whether they were for or against it.

The council used to meet on a weekly basis, but that system was scrapped in favor of the biweekly schedule because members said it was too much of a burden. But Marquardt said that packing everything into two longer meetings each month turns out to be just as bad, and that the new system will give council members time to think about issues that come up in work session, instead of having to vote on them or postpone them immediately after discussion.

The library conference room is considerably smaller than the City Hall space, and won't be able to accommodate the kind of large crowds that occasionally turn out for controversial or important meetings. Marquardt said that when hot-button issues are on the agenda for the work session, the council would consider holding meetings in the regular chambers.

The next city council work session will be at 7 p.m. on Tuesday in the library conference room.