Wilton Manors’ city commission meetings can sometimes be hours-long affairs. That was not the case at their meeting on July 9. They met for 18 minutes, discussed a couple of topics, and got home well before sunset.

Emily McCrater was appointed to the city’s Community Affairs Advisory Board, or CAAB.

Commissioner Paul Rolli brought up the idea of expanding the list of excused absences to include last-minute work-related events. Nothing was decided, but it appears any change would likely not include the Planning and Zoning Board. P&Z members generally have special skill sets that are not easily replaced, making attendance more crucial to their function.

They also discussed changing city code regarding newsstands. Most if not all area publications, including Out South Florida, have received notices of code violations at distribution points around the city. Commissioners all agreed the code is outdated (one section says papers and magazines cannot be free).

They plan to address it at their August meeting, and code change could happen in September. No word on if accumulating fines will be forgiven.

The reason these issues are being put off until August is because the July 23 meeting has a very packed agenda. The city must set the property tax rate ceiling by July 26. Commissioners say it will likely be higher at first, because they can’t raise it after the 26. The rate can be lowered.

The budgetary wildcard remains the police department. The city is facing a pay-related exodus of officers and are renegotiating the contract. The union and city leaders are scheduled to meet on Monday, July 22, just one day before the city has to set the rate.

As he closed the meeting, Mayor Scott Newton had advice for attendees: “Bring snacks and a drink, it’s going to be a long meeting.”