Public comments now limited at Gilbert council meetings

Gilbert Town Council walked back its proposed time limits on public speakers and instead rearranged the order of its meetings — taking public comment last.

Meetings on average run past the two-hour mark and on many occasions have lasted up to three hours largely due to public comment. The Town Council on April 2 was set to vote on a set of new rules about public comment time limits, decorum and new rules for council members.

Instead, the council debated for 45 minutes on the suggested rule changes with many of the members taking issue with limiting residents to speak less than three minutes.

The original proposed ordinance suggested cutting the comment time if the number of speakers surpassed 20.

“If a citizen wants to spend two hours telling me I’m doing a lousy job, I mean, I signed up for that. That’s why I’m here,” Councilmember Chuck Bongiovanni said at the meetings. Councilmembers Bobbi Buchli and Jim Torgeson agreed they did not want to cut public comment time.

Councilmember Kathy Tilque responded saying the time limits were there to create clarity and put it in writing so the public knows what to expect and the council isn’t making decisions under pressure.

Tilque said it’s “far and few between” that the number of commenters at meetings goes over 20.

More often than not, the first hour of a Gilbert council meeting is taken up by public comment from residents petitioning the members and mayor for their grievances related to zoning changes, ethics complaints or more recently the controversy of the “Gilbert Goons.”

As a compromise, Councilmember Yung Koprowski suggested changing the order of the meetings and having public comment at the end of the meeting instead of toward the top.

At least once in the past two years, a council meeting lasted nearly seven hours and went into the early morning hours because of the amount of public comment on the controversial rezoning case for The Ranch development. Nearly 40 speakers came out to that meeting.

Developers for other projects on the agenda didn’t get their proposals heard until nearly 1 a.m.

Mayor Brigette Peterson said it wasn’t fair to have those residents, business owners and their attorneys have to wait that long.

“We have projects that come in for public hearing that need to be heard in a timely fashion,” she said. “We have business to get done.”

In the end, after some wordsmithing from the dais to rewrite the section of the public comment and the order of meetings, the code changes passed unanimously.

Residents will have the full three minutes to address the council regardless of the number of speakers but will have to stick around until the end of the meeting for their turn.

The new order of Gilbert council meetings will be:

Proclamations and presentations Public hearings

Consent agenda

Administrative and policy items Public comment

Other changes in the code

Moving forward, booing, cheering or clapping will be considered disruptive because it disrupts “the flow of discussion” and could “potentially intimidate others,” the new code reads.

Applause would only be allowed during the presentations and proclamations portion of the meeting.

Banners and signs, which were previously barred, will be allowed in the chambers but have to be held below shoulder height or not obstruct the view of other audience members.

Changes to how three council members or the mayor add an item on the agenda will now first need to go to Town Manager Patrick Banger for discussion.

“Prior to a proposed item being placed on a meeting agenda, the requesting party (whether the mayor or three councilmembers) shall confer with the town manager to discuss the scope and timeline and the type of meeting appropriate for discussion of the item,” the code reads.