The City Council has resoundingly rejected an idea to experiment with its roll call order.

The Programs and Services Committee voted 4-3 to approve a change that would keep the alphabetical order of the voting but change who starts it each meeting.

“So, the order would remain the same, the sequence would remain the same, but we would start at a different point,” Councilor Joshua Krintzman explained.

Right now, Councilor Susan Albright is the first vote, followed by Councilor Lisle Baker. Under the proposed change, Albright would vote first during one meeting. Then, for the next meeting, Baker would vote first and the alphabetical order would go from there and come back to Albright.

“Institutions need to change,” Councilor Sean Roche, who came up with the idea, said. “Institutions need to look at what they’re doing occasionally and say: ‘What’s the “why” behind this, and can we do this better? Can we do this a more modern way?’”

Opposition to the idea from the full city council shared a mix of skepticism and bewilderment.

“It’s difficult enough for us to have the public understand what we’re doing, and the issue of changing the voting order is going to make it, I think, more confusing to the public,” Baker said.

Councilor Pam Wright, connecting via Zoom from Australia, called the idea “a solution in search of a problem.”

Councilors Albright and Tarik Lucas dismissed the roll call change but advocated for eventually implementing electronic voting.

The motion was rejected 15 to 7, with two members absent.

That was the only item brought to a vote on Monday.