The night ran late in the Westminster Depot meeting rooms

The new Westminster mayor is saying this morning that all things considered, he’s pleased with how things went during his city’s first council meeting of the New Year—even though for the mayor, the council, and the large meeting audience, it was a long night.  The open part of last night’s meeting approached three and a half hours, followed by an executive session for a personnel matter.  At 10:30 last night, Ramey announced the council took no action after its executive session regarding the city’s code enforcement officer position.  As the council worked its way through a 13-item regular agenda there were signs that, one result of the new-look mayor and council, there will be changes in how the city does its business.  Newly-elected councilwoman Susan Ramey emerged from last night’s meeting as the mayor pro-tem, in place of Bill Brockington, a holdover councilman.  And Mayor Brian Ramey announced early in the meeting that the city administrator will get “a new job description”—although he gave no details.  Mayor Ramey came out of the meeting as an alternate voting member on the board of PMPA—the city’s electric power supplier.  He will also represent his city on the board of the Joint Regional Sewer Authority.  The council also changed the start of its meetings from 5:30 to 6 o’clock and agreed to place a suggestion box at City Hall. Councilman Yousef Mefleh succeeded in his call for the city to reduce the charge for utility deposits and the formula it uses to set late fees.