Kim Smith, city clerk for Cupertino, said the move was made for three reasons. Currently, council members have only a few days to receive feedback from city staff on meeting issues, since the agenda is published on Wednesdays.

"We wanted to give city council members another day to address any agenda items," Smith said.

In addition, "The number of Monday holidays throughout the year often forced meetings to be held on Tuesdays anyway," Smith added.

Finally, with this year's budget cuts, the Cupertino Employees Association—a local group of Cupertino city workers—have agreed to five days of unpaid work furlough. "For this year only," Smith said, "these furloughs fall on Mondays," again giving city council members less time to work with city staff.

"In all respects this is a good decision," said City Councilman Richard Lowenthal.

"We have to reschedule about four council meetings a year because of holidays. It's good for residents to know we are going to be meeting regularly and to be able to count on it," he said. "Plus, it gives the council another day to prepare."

City Manager David Knapp agreed the change is a positive one. "The staff liked the idea," he said. "If the city council does have questions—needs us to generate a map, for example—it gives [the staff] time to do that. All around it's a better thing."