Participation in the National League of Cities conference next week has potentially brought the last Ladies Night one week closer.

Normally, the Ames City Council convenes on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month. However, Mayor Ted Tedesco said participation in the National League of Cities Annual Congressional Conference, March 7-11 in Washington, D.C., prompted the rescheduling of the meeting to this week.

The council will likely approve the third passage and adopt an ordinance that will prohibit bars in Ames from providing all-you-can-drink alcohol buffets, said councilwoman Sharon Wirth.

“[The ordinance] has had strong support from the council members in the past,” she said. Wirth said she has not heard any negative opinions of the ordinance from council members.

Councilman Russ Cross agreed with Wirth. “I’d expect it to pass,” said Cross. “I haven’t polled my colleagues at all to know exactly how they’ll vote.”

Four council members have to vote in favor of the ordinance for it to pass and become city law, Wirth said. If the ordinance is adopted, it must be published, which “is a matter of a few days,” and then the ordinance will go into affect.

She said she has not received any calls from students or Ames residents in opposition to the ordinance.

“Essentially, all the ordinance does is ban one price all-you-can-drink specials at establishments with a liquor license,” Cross said.

A student liaison will not be present on the council at tomorrow’s meeting but will be in place by the last March meeting, said Mike Banasiak, government relations coordinator for the Government of the Student Body. An official announcement of the liaison will be made Tuesday, but Banasiak said he will likely be appointed, at least temporarily. Banasiak, a candidate in the GSB presidential race, said, “we’ve spoken with a lot of students and gotten both positive and negative feedback.”

Some students believe the ordinance is an encroachment on their private lives and won’t actually solve any problems, he said.

“We don’t want to see this bill go any further,” Banasiak said, to include drink specials like “penny pitchers.” “I just think what it comes down to is just making sure students are heard.” Cross said he thinks the council needs to understand more about the binge drinking problem in Ames, if the ordinance is stretched further.

“I don’t know that there is the same level of support to expand to all drink specials,” Cross said.

The council will also have the opportunity to approve for the first time a new version of an ordinance that would prohibit residences from having couches and other inside furniture on their lawns, Wirth said.

“It’s changed quite a bit,” Wirth said. When the ordinance was first proposed last spring, it would have only impacted rental properties in Ames. This time, Wirth said, it would be enforced city-wide.

The Ames City Council will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Council Chambers at City Hall, 515 Clark Ave.