Portland’s newly elected mayor and city councilors will be sworn into office Monday, and their first order of business will be to change the way the City Council operates.

Proposed new rules include starting and ending meetings earlier and making council meeting agendas available to the public sooner. Also, residents would be allowed to address the council about non-agenda items early in the evening.

Portland Mayor Ethan Strimling says the "special assistant to the mayor" is needed to help develop policy and assist City Council committees.

Ethan Strimling, who will be sworn in as mayor’ Monday, created a committee to come up with the changes and supports the recommendations to improve transparency of city government and give people a chance to learn more and give more informed opinions about issues coming before the council.

During the election, Strimling promised to be a “listener-in-chief” at a time when many were criticizing City Hall for ignoring the concerns of residents.

“That for me is what’s most important as we move forward with our work,” Strimling said.

He appointed several councilors to an ad-hoc rules committee shortly after being elected. After two meetings, the group recommended a series of changes to council rules and procedures. The council will vote on the proposed changes Monday, after the newly elected councilors are sworn into office during a noontime ceremony at City Hall.

If approved, council meetings would begin at 5 p.m., rather than 7 p.m., and would end by 10 p.m., unless a majority of the council votes to continue past that hour. Councilors would take a dinner break at 6:30 p.m.

When the meeting reconvenes at 7 p.m., citizens would be allowed to address the council about any non-agenda item, before the council resumes its business. Currently, the open comment period for citizens is only allowed at the end of the meeting, provided that it is not after 11 p.m.

“That’s a great chance for people to flag issues that might be coming down the road,” Strimling said. “Anything that improves access to the public to what we’re doing is a good thing.”

The new rules also would give the public and councilors two additional days to review the meeting agenda and read through what is often hundreds of pages of background material. Instead of the council’s meeting packet being released Friday afternoon, it would be released Wednesday.

If approved, the changes would take effect for the next meeting, though Strimling said it may take a few meetings for city staff to adjust to the earlier deadlines for meeting materials.

Steven Scharf, a resident who regularly attends council meetings, applauded the earlier release of council agendas and a guaranteed time for the public comment on non-agenda items. He also was confident that meetings will be run more effectively.

“I am very optimistic (city business) will be more transparent,” Scharf said.

Strimling, who unseated Mayor Michael Brennan on Nov. 3, will begin a four-year term and earn a salary of $70,000 a year plus benefits. He will host an inaugural celebration starting at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Ocean Gateway Terminal. The event is open to the public.

In 2011, Brennan became Portland’s first popularly elected mayor in 88 years, and the first person to work under a new charter provision that established a full-time mayor who would not control day-to-day city operations, but function more as a spokesperson and policy leader for the council. Before that, the council appointed one member to a largely ceremonial post as mayor for one year.

It’s unclear what Brennan’s future holds. He declined several requests for an interview.

The three city councilors will be sworn in for three-year terms. Each will earn an annual stipend of $6,260 and will be able to receive health insurance and retirement benefits through the city.

Belinda Ray, a freelance author, construction business manager and founder of the East Bayside Neighborhood Organization, will be sworn in as the new District 1 councilor, representing the eastern portion of the peninsula. The 45-year-old East Bayside resident earned 39 percent of the vote in a five-way race to succeed Kevin Donoghue, who did not seek re-election after three terms.

Spencer Thibodeau, a real estate attorney, will take over the District 2 seat representing the western portion of the peninsula. The 29-year-old Oakdale resident earned nearly 41 percent of the vote in a three-way race to replace David Marshall, who did not seek re-election after serving three terms.

And longtime City Councilor Nicholas Mavodones, the operations manager at Casco Bay Lines, will begin his seventh term as an at-large councilor. The 55-year-old Chenery Street resident earned 63 percent of the vote in a three-way race.

The newly minted council also will vote on a new subcommittee structure, which includes a super-committee, consisting of a majority of the nine-member council, to tackle the city’s housing shortage and rising rents. Other subcommittees, which send policy recommendations to the full council, will have three members, while the Housing Committee will have five.

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