FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Councilwoman Debbie Quinn wore a pair of stuffed-animal reindeer antlers to the last City Council meeting of the year, indicating the festive season — and the heavy work load for the evening.

The only item on the agenda was to approve the minutes from the Dec. 10 meeting.

“Let’s not break our record of a four-minute meeting,” Councilman Mike Ford said, referring to the fastest one he remembered during the prior mayor’s administration.

City law requires two council meetings a month, and having the second one in December Thursday night (instead of the fourth Monday) meant no more meetings until 2008, the council decided last month. It also meant no council meeting during Christmas week.

Despite the holiday mood, some work did get done at the work session before the meeting.

The council reassured Fairhope Airport Authority Chairman Chuck Zunk that it had, in fact, committed to support the 2008 Festival of Flight air show in the amount of $51,000.

At a Tuesday meeting of the FAA, Ford suggested that the City Council might not have approved that request.

“I’m pretty sure we’re going to do it,” he said at the Tuesday meeting.

“I kind of thought it had been done,” FAA Vice chairman Charlie Bassett said that day.

Ford recommended that a representative from the airport authority come to Thursday’s work session to discuss the issue.

Zunk came to Thursday’s meeting, large notebook in hand.

“I had three people call me after (Tuesday’s) meeting,” Council Chairman Bob Gentle said. “We did approve it.”

The council members present at the work session agreed that they had approved the FAA’s funding request at the Dec. 10 council meeting.

Ford said that he had just wanted to be sure.

“We told on you,” Zunk said to Ford, who laughed.

No stopwatches were visible Thursday night, but after an opening prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance and a unanimous vote to approve the minutes, one observer said he thought the four-minute record was safe for another year, at least by a good minute.