Denver’s Finance and Governance Committee unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday that supporters say would make City Council meetings more efficient.

If the resolution is approved by the full council, council meetings would start an hour and a half earlier than they do now with a modified order of business in an attempt to better manage time.

The “business” portion of council meetings would begin at 3:30 p.m., followed by council announcements, presentations and communications. A council member can call out a proclamation during this part of the meeting or later in the meeting.

Next would be bills for introduction, followed by bills and resolutions that have been called out and final consideration of bills and resolutions that don’t have a public hearing. Council would then recess.

The “public” portion of the meetings would start at 5 p.m. with public comment, and council would gavel back in at 5:30.

Council members would take up any unfinished business during the 5:30 p.m. session before reading called-out proclamations and going into public hearings.

If a debate stretches past 5 p.m., the proposal would allow council to pause the debate for public comment and then pick up where it left off at 5:30 p.m.

Sign up times for public comment and public hearings would not change. Public comment would continue to open at noon Friday and would close at 4 p.m. Monday, while public hearing sign ups would close when council returns from recess. Meetings would remain open to the public and would be broadcast over Zoom and Channel 8.

“What we can say with certainty on most nights — which we certainly cannot say this now — public hearings will start at 5:30 for some predictability and the ability to end at an earlier time for the public that was watching,” said council member Chris Herndon, who sponsored the proposal.

As an example of why this change is necessary, Herndon said most council members headed home after Monday night’s meeting around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday after lengthy debates and public hearings. One of the speakers told council that they hadn’t been awake past midnight for five years, emphasizing the inconvenience for constituents who want to speak directly to council.

“I think we all today really appreciate the fact that we shouldn’t be making decisions at 1 in the morning after we’ve been sitting in seats since 5,” council member Kendra Black said.

Herndon said he and Black met with all council members to talk about improving meeting efficiency, and the proposal is a product of those discussions. Budget and Policy Committee meetings will continue to be at 1:30 p.m. on Mondays with a planned end time of 3 p.m. to ensure council members get a break, Herndon said.

Council member Jolon Clark said he appreciated that Herndon gathered feedback from council and central staff to develop a plan that “will really better serve the city and our constituents.”

Council member Paul Kashmann was more hesitant about the changes, particularly moving public hearings to 5:30 p.m. so folks can get home from work and have enough time to prepare. He also said members of the public typically comment on items on the council’s consent agenda, and they would lose the opportunity to do so under the modified order of business.

Herndon said members of the public, and even council members, can now participate remotely, which makes the 5:30 p.m. start time more desirable because they don’t need to come downtown and find parking. He also said people can speak about items while they are in committee or directly contact their council members to share thoughts on consent items.