Nearly one year after a failed attempt to change the start time for meetings, the Langley City Council is once again considering a different time to get down to business, albeit later instead of earlier.

Monday night, Councilmember Thomas Gill proposed moving the starting time for regular council meetings to later in the evening.

Since 2010, the council has convened at 5:30 p.m. on every first and third Monday of the month, or Tuesday when Monday is a holiday.

Gill said he has heard some comments from the community, along with logistical issues from city staff, about the current start time of 5:30. In addition, he cited Councilmember Harolynne Bobis’ new job in Mukilteo as another reason to delay starting.

“A half an hour to an hour, at least in my mind, I don’t think is a huge ask if we get that little bit of a break,” he said.

Bobis agreed, pointing out that while she is off the clock at 5 p.m., she still has to catch a ferry home in order to make it to council meetings.

“If it’s six o’clock, I won’t be totally stressed out by the time I come to a meeting,” she said. “But 6:30 would be even better.”

Other council members, however, were reluctant to accept the change. They did, however, acknowledge that they would be willing to support it in the best interest of the others on the council.

An early riser, Councilmember Gail Fleming said she would not be thrilled with staying up late. Lengthy council meetings often run a total of three hours, if not longer.

“To me, the meetings go on way too late into the night to begin with, and that’s when they started at 5:30,” she said.

Similarly, Councilmember Rhonda Salerno wondered if she would be “as good as a council person at six o’clock” and worried about the ordinance for the time change costing the city more money.

Taking a neutral stance, Councilmember Craig Cyr said he would be happy to support whatever the council decided.

Mayor Scott Chaplin suggested polling city staff about the time change. In the meantime, an ordinance will be drafted with the 6 p.m. time change and the council will continue discussing the issue at its next regular meeting in January.