The Board of Aldermen meeting here, scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m., got off to a late start due to a lack of quorum until 6:54 p.m. Tuesday.
South Ward Alderman Tom Henage was the only board member at the meeting on time, with North Ward Alderman Mike Bickel and South Ward Alderman Terry Walker arriving late due to work. Mayor Kevin Phares and North Ward Alderwoman Stephanie Leverett were absent.
Two local residents who were waiting to bring a complaint before the board were not pleased at the delay.
"Now I'm a little aggravated," Forrest Brown said after waiting for 10 minutes. "The last time I was here I was told I had to be here by 6:30 if I wanted to say anything, and now we're waiting on them."
City Clerk Missy Hooks said the situation was unusual - noting that aldermen typically call ahead if they are going to be late or are unable to make it to a meeting so that it can be rescheduled if necessary.
"In over two years, this is the first time it's happened this way," agreed City Supervisor Mike Bertschinger, who previously served as an alderman.
Once Walker arrived and the meeting convened, Bickel made a motion to move the public comments portion of the meeting to the top of the agenda because of the long wait.
Brown and neighbor Brian Sharp both spoke to the board about dogs constantly barking on their street.
"In my neighborhood there's one next door, one across the street and one down the street, and these are dogs that bark all day, all the time," Brown said."It's continuous. Saturday night from 3 to 7, all I heard was yap, yap, yap, yap, yap, yap yap.
"I'm sick of it. I don't have to listen to that all the time."
Brown said he had spoken with two of the neighbors and had appeared before the council previously, but nothing had changed.
"I've complained about this before. Has anything been done about it? No," he said. "Something's going to be done about it one way or the other."