Yuma City Council is trying out Monday work sessions. Here's why that matters if you follow City Hall.

If you've ever wanted to know what the Yuma City Council is thinking before it votes, the work session is the meeting to watch.

That's where council members ask staff questions, hear presentations and talk through the items they'll vote on at the regular meeting. Votes happen on Wednesday. The thinking out loud happens the night before.

Starting in February, it won't be the night before anymore.

The council is moving its work sessions from Tuesday to Monday for a three-month trial, KYMA reported. They'll start at 5:30 p.m. on the Monday before each regular council meeting, mostly in Room 190 at City Hall, One City Plaza. After three months, the city will decide whether to keep the change.

Mayor Doug Nicholls said the idea is to give council members more time between the two meetings to research items and talk with applicants. "It gives us a little bit more time between the actual work council meeting and the work session," he told KYMA.

That's a reasonable thing to want. An extra day to follow up on a question raised at the work session could make for better-informed votes on Wednesday.

Can you still watch?

The KYMA report doesn't say whether the Monday sessions will be streamed, and the city hasn't posted the February agendas yet.

There's a good sign, though. The City of Yuma's FY 2023 capital plan budgeted $100,000 for Room 190 audio-visual equipment, including cameras for broadcasting and streaming work sessions. Its FY 2024 plan listed another $48,000 in additional improvements for the room. The city now streams council worksessions online and keeps past meetings available on demand.

Once the February schedule is up on the city's meeting calendar, I'll check that the Monday sessions are listed there with a stream and the usual agenda packets, and update this story.

Where this comes from

• Yuma City Council testing new work session time, KYMA, Nov. 6, 2026. Reporting. Source for the new day, time, room, trial period and the mayor's comments.
• City of Yuma FY 2023 Capital Improvement Program. Source for Room 190 audio-visual equipment funding.
• City of Yuma FY 2024 Capital Improvement Program. Source for additional Room 190 improvements.
• City of Yuma video and TV streams. Source for work sessions streamed online and available on demand.
• City of Yuma meeting calendar (Legistar). Where February agendas will appear.

Photo: Jesuiseduardo / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)