It was funny to sit in the city council room for this morning’s agenda meeting with the full cast of five deputies and the City Attorney, but nary a council member to be seen. Although Commissioner of Finance Kenneth Ivins was present, the other four chairs were vacant.

Ordinarily, this would pose a real problem, as the council needs at least four members present to make any decisions. Fortunately, this was just an agenda meeting, and Ivins — sitting along at the council table — did a superlative job of running the meeting, with deputies mostly filling each other in on agenda items.

It’s at times like these, I always like to remind myself that being a member of the City Council is supposed to be a part time job, for which the council members are paid a pittance. And yet, they put in late nights, are frequently available to field phone calls from the likes of me, and three of the five hold down regular employment as well.

So, it was odd to see a lone council member conducting business, but, if you ask me, on a holiday Monday, if some of the council needs to start the day a little later, we can forgive them – this one time.

The council meets for its regular meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Hopefully the full group will have assembled.