The elephant in Bellevue council chambers was addressed Tuesday evening as officials voted to amend the borough's administrative code to allow council to decide when regular meetings will be held.

It took only a comment from council member David Gillingham Jr. for the concern that meeting dates would be used as a political weapon to come front and center.

"We could set meetings for Mondays and the Viscusis can't make it," Gillingham said two different times.

"He's making my point," council member Jane Braunlich said of Gillingham's statements."Every month somebody could change it."

The borough's administrative code has mandated for decades that council's regular meeting be held on the first Tuesday of every month. An amendment to the code approved by council during Tuesday's meeting will allow council to set the regular meeting date for any time during a month.

The change was being considered because the majority of council voted in December to hire a new solicitor who cannot attend meetings on the first Tuesday of the month because he represents another borough whose council meets on that date.

Council member Mark Helbling said that the solicitor should be considered "part of the team" now, and a meeting date set that would accommodate all officials.

"We've got to do what's going to benefit everybody," Helbling said.

That proved to be harder than anyone anticipated. Director of administrative Services Connie Flasher said that she was taking a class on Monday evenings. Both James and Susan Viscusi work on Wednesday nights. Council member Linda Woshner said that she has a professional meeting that is held on the third Tuesday of every month.

With more meetings than available Tuesdays, council tentatively agreed to hold committee meetings on the first Tuesday and Wednesday of each month, the pre-council meeting on the second Tuesday, and the council meeting two weeks later, on the fourth Tuesday.

An ordinance amending the administrative code to allow council to set meeting dates was approved on all three readings in 5-4 votes. In favor were council president Kathy Coder and members Helbling, Gillingham, Lisa Blaney-Stewart and Mark Panichella. Opposed were Braunlich, Woshner, and Susan and James Viscusi.