Councilman Michael Pollock would like to see Bainbridge City Council meetings start at 6 p.m. and adjourn by 9.

But at last Wednesday’s meeting, discussion of Pollock’s proposal began at 10:16 p.m., more than four hours into the session – facts not lost on the councilman.

“The irony of this is killing me,” Pollock said, introducing what he hopes will be steps toward more efficient council meetings.

The discussion could lead to earlier meetings – several recent sessions have started at 6 p.m. and 6:30 – and more flexible agendas, to see items of importance or broad public interest resolved earlier in the evening.

The council chair cited “growing frustration” with the twice-monthly sessions, which are frequently criticized as meandering and overlong, and occasionally run close to midnight.

“In all honesty, I just kind of got fed up with it,” Pollock said in an interview this week. “Part of it is, some of the (public and staff) presentations were going on too long – things that people could have said in a short period of time were not being said quickly.

“Everybody loves to talk.”

He acknowledged that the council itself is often complicit.

“Some council members – and I guess I would have to include myself – do speak longer than we should,” he said. “We could make our points more concisely.”

Several council members Wednesday expressed support for the earlier hour, although Councilwoman Christine Nasser Rolfes said it could create child-care difficulties for her family.

She praised the Bainbridge community’s “wisdom” in traditionally starting meetings at 7 p.m.

Councilman Norm Wooldridge also questioned whether a full agenda could be given fair consideration in a shorter meeting.

“I would love to think we could be done in three hours,” he said, “but I don’t think we can.”

But Councilwoman Deborah Vancil argued that meetings should be timed and organized for the convenience of the public, not the council.

Vancil turned her attention to the gallery – which by that hour had dwindled to one private citizen, two Bainbridge Island Broadcasting cameramen and a newspaper reporter – and challenged the council to reflect on the paucity of interest and participation.

“We are not serving the public well,” Vancil said.

Councilman Bill Knobloch cited his observations of the Kirkland city council, which he said starts meetings early and devotes the first hour to “informal” items such as public presentations.

Pollock’s proposals are similar, and would get presentations and executive sessions out of the way early. Deliberation of “meaty” issues would then begin at 7 p.m.

“The reason for doing this is to benefit the public,” he said. “I think the primary benefit of this is we’ll be able to make better decisions, and the public will be able to participate at a more timely hour.”

Introduction of Pollock’s proposals coincided with two other documents relating to the council’s performance: a new “Council Manual,” and an ethics ordinance.

The latter, proposed by Councilman Bill Knobloch, would steer city employees, and elected and appointed officials clear of decisions and actions from which they would have some material benefit.

It would extend to business interests and contractual arrangements, and would compel council members to disclose possible conflicts before participating in discussion of an issue.

Knobloch said he was moved to tackle the issue after attending several workshops for new council members.

“I became aware of how important it was for public officials, elected or appointed, to have an appearance of fairness when dealing with the community,” he said. “Then I found out we didn’t have an ethics ordinance.”

The ordinance would create a three-person ethics board, to hear, investigate and rule on complaints, based on a preponderance of evidence.

Any official found to have committed an ethics violation would be subject to a fine of up to $500, with disciplinary action possible.

The ordinance was referred to the council’s finance and personnel committee for review.

The council manual – based on a similar document in use in Bothell, and since added to and subtracted from by a number of council members and the city attorney – is said to be a means of clarifying the respective roles of the council and mayor, disagreement over which caused public rift early in the year.

In so doing, the draft document proposes a number of “thou shalt nots.” For example, the mayor would be explicitly forbidden from “interfering” with the legislative process, while the council would be proscribed from “intervening” in the administration of city staff.

Mayor Darlene Kordonowy said she had yet to thoroughly review the document, which is now being studied by Pollock and city Administrator Lynn Nordby.

“There’s been a lot of talk about separation of powers,” Kordonowy said. “In a government our size, I think we need to start with the assumption that we need to work together, rather than we need to work separately.”