Grove Village Council might get back<br />City Hall meeting place

The Coconut Grove Village Council still is without a permanent meeting place, but a decision might come as early as this week about whether the group can return to City Hall.

The Village Council was forced to move its monthly meetings from City Hall after Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado, who was elected in November, said he wanted to allow more access to City Hall to non-governmental groups. The council has met at the Abanico Theater at the Academy of Arts & Minds Charter High School and at middle school campus of Ransom Everglades.

The April 15th Village Council meeting will be at City Hall, Coconut Grove Village Council Chairman Patrick Sessions said, adding that he was told that no procedures were yet in place for reserving City Hall chambers.

“At least we have one scheduled,” Sessions said. “Hopefully, they’ll get their act together and issue the guidelines soon.”

The city of Miami Hearing Board and City Manager’s office said it is trying to finalize a schedule to meet requests from government and community organizations.

“Unfortunately, this matter requires involvement of a number of different departments based on its impact with possible after-hours use and weekends, establishing a request process electronically, and a few others challenges,” said Lynn Westall, senior assistant to City Manager Pedro Hernandez. “We should have something shortly.”