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Organizational City Council Minutes - 1/5/04 Page 11 items processed at the second and fourth Monday meetings. Mr. Beets noted several exceptions to accommodate holidays and in an effort to provide balance in the meeting schedule, and meet statutory requirements (i.e., zoning issues). Councilmember Schroeder sought clarification of the Council's intent for using the work sessions, voting on action items or not, and the actual number of business meetings proposed. City Manager Beets reiterated that the work sessions could take on various formats, at the discretion of the Council and the issues before the Council; noting that normally they were for further discussion and study of a smaller number of policy issues (i.e., five issues); and while he didn't anticipate voting other than to provide staff direction, it provided an opportunity for staff and the public to hear more Council feedback, and for the Council to hear more input from the public and staff as applicable. Councilmember Maschka wholeheartedly endorsed the work session format; opining that it made for better and more productive business meetings, when discussion could take place prior to action being taken; allowed for more consideration and open discussion of issues; and ultimately allowed for a more process-driven and shorter business meeting, with more information being made available to the public and the Council. Councilmember Schroeder sought further clarification on whether voting would be done on various topics and/or consent items at a work sessions; and how many actual business meetings would be held during the year. Mayor Klausing noted that, while the work session would not generally be used for voting purposes, if necessary and due to the fact that it was a duly-noticed public meeting, it could be used for voting if time-sensitive issues were apparent before the next scheduled business meeting.