It’s deja vu all over again with the Greensboro City Council hybrid work session scheduled for 2:30 p.m., Tuesday, May 11.

The agenda includes two items – “Budget Cycle Update/ Overview” and “Water Resources Budget Update/Overview” – that were on the agendas for the May 4 work session and the April 27 work session.

The April 27 work session began at 2 p.m. and was adjourned at about 2:40 p.m. after City Attorney Chuck Watts was made aware that the meeting was not being broadcast on the city website as advertised.  The work session was also not being broadcast on the Greensboro Television Network as at least some city councilmembers assumed.

As Watts explained to the City Council, for the meeting to be held in accordance with the North Carolina Open Meetings Law, it had to be available at the site where the official notification said it would be available.

Then the two items were put on the work session agenda for the 3 p.m. work session on May 4.  The public portion of that work session had to end at 4:30 p.m. so the City Council could go into closed session, giving the City Council 90 minutes to cover the four other items on the extremely optimistic agenda.  The City Council covered two items – the discussion of the planned 2021 bond package and the American Rescue Plan.

It is not a given that the third time will be the charm and the City Council will have time for both the budget and Water Resources because the first item on the work session agenda is “2021 Election Discussions.”

Councilmember Tammi Thurm brought this up at the May 4 meeting, stating that the City Council needed to discuss and make a decision about the upcoming election and if it should be held on schedule this fall in the current City Council districts.  The other option would be to delay the City Council election until 2022 and hold it in new City Council districts redrawn to reflect the 2020 Census figures, which are not expected to be available until late September this year.

The city attorney has told the City Council he did not see a legal issue with holding the election in the current districts as scheduled.

But with all nine seats on the City Council up for election, there could be some strong opinions on what is the best course of action.