Oak Harbor City Council is suspending its regular scheduled standing committee meetings for the next three months.

Instead, the council will hold monthly workshops to discuss emerging issues, works in progress and pending action items.

The decision was approved by unanimous vote during Tuesday’s regular council meeting.

The workshops are scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. April 24 and May 22, both Wednesdays, and June 18, a Tuesday.

The meetings will be held at City Hall, 865 S.E. Barrington Dr.

The temporary suspension is meant as a trial to determine if workshops might be more effective and encourage greater public participation than the existing format.

The city’s four standing committees — Public Works and Utilities, Government Services, Public Safety and Finance — meet on different days at City Hall.

“I’m happy to see this coming forward to try out,” said Councilman Bob Severns.

Councilman Joel Servatius echoed Severns’ support, though he encouraged members of the public to weigh in on the effectiveness of the temporary change.

Standing committees used to meet at different times and different locations, but that was changed last year to encourage citizen participation.

Servatius said he believes the workshops format will be more efficient, but it will be important to determine if the new format is better or worse for the public.