As reported in the Eye, proposed new rules for public comment at Common Council meetings have been adopted.
It is the responsibility of each newly-elected Council to review and amend rules as the Council sees a need for change or improvement.
The new rules limit the amount of time for public comment for items listed on Common Council meeting agendas. Total time for public comment during regular Common Council meetings will be 30 minutes, unless a supermajority of the Council votes to extend that time period. In addition, individuals who want to comment will have their time to speak limited to 5 minutes.
However, the Council has created a new opportunity for residents to address the Council on any topic. The Council will hold monthly, community-wide public meetings at which the public can speak on "any issue(s) of concern with the bounds of proper public discourse and decorum." Each resident will be limited to 10 minutes of speaking time, and the total time of the meeting is not limited. Meetings will be held on a rotating basis at South Fire Station, City Hall, Macdonough School, Middletown High School and Snow School. These meetings will not be televised, or broadcast in any manner. The Council may refer issues that arise at these meetings to appropriate committees or commissions for study.
Residents will no longer be given the opportunity to speak at regular Council meeting on topics not on the agenda of that meeting.
No limit has been placed on the amount of time Council members may debate an issue.
In other rule changes, the section of the Council meeting called "Questions for Directors" has been extracted from the body of the meeting and will now take place in a special meeting directly prior to each Council meeting and called "Questions to Directors Workshop." A quorum of Council members is not required, and the meeting will run for one hour. These special workshop meetings will not be televised and there will be no public comment.
Mayor Sebastian Giuliano commented that the rules provide a new and broader opportunity for the public to address the Council, but that it extends the time and work commitment for the Council members.
"Having a series of community meeting presents a lot of opportunities," Giuliano said. "And I hope they make the effort to attend each of these meetings.
"In terms of what's discussed at these meetings, it ought to be withing the purview of items on which the Council can act. They're under no obligation to sit and listen to something they can legally do nothing about."
Giuliano expects to be asked to preside as parlimentarian (chairman) at these community meetings.
1 comment:
Could be a boon for the Council, whose meetings are so long and self-indulgent that it sometimes seems that attendance must be limited mainly to persons with a bad marriage who want to get out of the house. Of course, it could prove to be an anti-democratic maneuver to segregate complainers from the main action of governance.
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