Council May Revise Structure of Meetings

The practice of allowing the public to speak on any topic before every City Council meeting may change.

Several proposals are being considered to revise the policy, which sometimes causes meetings to last six to eight hours.

The council meets twice a month, each time at 4 p.m. and again at 7:30 p.m. Currently, the public is allowed three minutes per person to speak at the beginning of each session.

Councilman Don Bankhead has proposed that the public comments be taken at the beginning of the 4 p.m. session and at the end of the 7:30 p.m. session.

His proposal at this week’s City Council meeting brought protests from several residents who said it would eliminate people who work until 5 p.m. or cannot spend six to eight hours waiting from making a comment.

However, people who attend meetings to speak on scheduled public hearings get frustrated that they must wait 45 minutes to one hour while the unscheduled speakers finish speaking.

Councilwoman Jan M. Flory proposed that the council restrict public comments to a total of 30 minutes and eliminate or limit responses to brief remarks. Should the 30 minutes lapse, public comments would continue at the end of the night sessions, she suggested.

Mayor Chris Norby suggested that the council hold one extra meeting per month in an effort to shorten the sessions. The council will decide what to do in March.