The Monday evening meetings of the Spokane City Council can be tedious. Some nights, the meeting room is nearly empty of citizens. On other nights, however, the room comes alive with good council debate and insightful citizen comments.

The meetings, cablecast on CityCable 5, allow people to see how exciting open government can be – and how boring, too. It also allows citizens to decide how the women and men they elected into office are handling their jobs.

In contrast, Spokane County Commission meetings are held during the day, with the exception of one evening meeting on the third Tuesday of the month, and it’s hard to catch them on television. Now, new County Commissioner Bonnie Mager is following through on a campaign promise by pushing for weekly commission meetings beginning at 5:30 p.m. This would allow citizens who work during the day to attend.

It’s an idea that should happen sooner rather than later. And the county should work with the city-run cable channel to see if all their commission meetings could be cablecast. Currently, only their once-a-month evening meeting finds its way to CityCable5.

Night meetings will inconvenience commissioners by cutting into family and relaxation time. The meetings now sometimes stretch over several hours. But personal time management – and running efficient meetings – are traits common in good leaders. Commissioners should be able to figure out how to do the once-a-week evening meetings and still carve time away from the office.

Switching to weekly evening meetings won’t guarantee that great numbers of citizens will attend them. But the change would send this message from commissioners to the citizens who elected them: We’re accommodating your schedules, not ours. We’re here and open for business.