On Monday, the Baldwin City Council discussed but didn’t pursue a proposed change in the process used to approve ordinances.

The City Council currently votes on ordinances twice, with a second reading scheduled for the meeting following the council’s first action on a measure.

Mayor Marilyn Pearse suggested that the city end the practice of second readings.

Although the council rarely reverses ordinances on second reading, it has changed direction twice in the last year. In July 2015, the council voted not to annex land on the city’s northeast shoulder after unanimously approving the annexation two weeks earlier. In January, the council voted to send a rezoning of property in the Fire Tree subdivision from single-family to multi-family zoning back to the Planning Commission after having unanimously approved the rezoning at the previous meeting. That reconsideration came when a roomful of neighborhood residents opposed the change at its second reading.

Baldwin City Administrator Glenn Rodden said the two-reading system was rare. Topeka was the only other Kansas municipality he knew of that used the method. Rodden suggested as an alternative the council could schedule work sessions to discuss items, particularly controversial ones, in open session before placing them on the agenda.

City Council members were split on the merit of the proposal, but the majority preferred the current process, Rodden said.

The City Council also approved the first reading of a one-year adjustment to the city’s electrical rates, which gives large users a break on the demand charge they are billed. The measure extends the reduction first approved for 2013 and extended every year since. The reduction first was recommended after Kansas City Power & Light eliminated in 2012 its variable demand charge, or an added cost of energy supplied the city during peak demand periods,

The measure the council approved Monday reduced from 15 percent to 5 percent the demand surcharge added to large customers for energy they consume during peak demand periods.

Benefitting from the reduction are Baker University, USD 348 and a number of large commercial and industrial customers.

Baldwin City power plant superintendent Rob Culley estimated the reduction would cost the city $25,000 in revenue.