Roanoke's newly sworn-in mayor and council members eased their way into their first city council meeting Monday with a light agenda and promises to cooperate.

Mayor David Bowers, back in the job he held from 1992 to 2000, inaugurated the new era at city hall with three slow, dramatic pounds of his gavel, the same gavel that he used as student body president at Patrick Henry High School in the 1960s, he said.

He then welcomed the two new faces on the council, Court Rosen, whom Bowers called "a bright, young fellow" and Anita Price, the city's first black woman to serve on the council.

The council deferred action on a series of proposals from Bowers, one of the few items on its agenda. Bowers asked that the council hold a public hearing this month on the changes and put off a decision until later in the summer.

The proposals center upon "the opening of our democratic process," Bowers wrote in a memo the day he officially took over the mayor's office. Among the memo's suggestions was extending to five minutes the amount of time speakers have to address the council. Currently, speakers must make their points in three minutes or less if there are five people or more signed up to address the council members.

Bowers also said he wanted to get rid of the lectern that speakers speak from as well as the sign up sheets that people fill out before the meeting.

Rosen and Price, as new council members, said they wanted to see the current system at work before deciding whether to change it.

But the day was not without its procedural hiccups.

During a roll call vote on fining drivers with disabilities $25 for forgetting to display the necessary placard when parking in a designated spot, Rosen leaned over when it was his turn to vote and asked, "May I ask a question?"

Technically, questions are supposed to be asked before the vote, but Bowers let him ask his question anyway.

"I'm new to this, so thank you for cutting me some slack," Rosen said before asking whether authorities could give drivers a warning before fining them.

City Manager Darlene Burcham said the proposed ordinance would actually be less punitive on drivers with disabilities who forget to display their placard. Right now, the city code treats them no differently than drivers without disabilities who park illegally in spaces designated for people with disabilities and fines them $125.

That was news to council member Alvin Nash, who had voted against the ordinance the first time around, not realizing that if the council turned down the ordinance, the fine would be considerably higher.

Nash reversed his vote on the do-over and the motion passed unanimously.