Cambridge City Council meetings, notorious for endless hours of public comment and community participation, may soon see a new format.

A task force, led by Councillor Sheila T. Russell, has proposed changes including replacing public comment at the beginnings with limited comment throughout, moving more agenda items to separate hearings and rerouting concerns to a computerized system.

Councillor Katherine Triantafillou said the task force's proposals are meant to make meetings run more smoothly and effectively.

"All of this is intended to use our time more efficiently in terms of focusing on policy matters," she said.

The task force's recommendations will be voted on next Monday, but already the council has adopted one measure, the creation of once-a-month roundtable discussions.

Today's meeting regarding growth management in the city will be the first meeting held in the roundtable format.

"It's major that we're doing this," Triantafillou said. "To be able to have one meeting a month to be able to devote to policy...will bode well to the council and the community."

Triantafillou said she hopes meetings will no longer be slowed by issues such as traffic signs, which will now be directed to the computerized system.

Russell described the computer system as more efficient.