Council seeks to change public comment procedure
Residents push back on plan to limit topics
The Warren City Council will consider adding a second opportunity for public comment to the end of its regular meeting agenda while limiting those in the first audience participation segment at the beginning of the meeting to discussing agenda items only.
The change is part of proposed revisions to the Council Rules of Procedure that were originally to be discussed during the Dec. 12 regular meeting. That item was removed from the agenda at the beginning of the meeting and is expected to be included on the Dec. 19 agenda.
Since November 2019, audience participation has been scheduled at the beginning of regular council meetings after approval of the bills and prior to announcements. Public comment had previously been placed at the end of the agenda.
Council Secretary Mindy Moore said many communities structure their public comment this way to ensure that residents who wish to speak about an item on the agenda may do so prior to the Council taking a vote.
“This allows the public to have input on any items that council will be voting on before the matter is considered,” said Moore. “Anyone who wishes to address any matter not on the agenda can speak at the audience participation item at the end of the meeting.”
But some residents say audience participation is working well the way it is currently structured and
change is not necessary.
“This change is a solution in search of a problem,” said resident Margaret Huntone during the Dec. 12 meeting. “It has been working well to have audience participation at the beginning of the meeting which allows us to have our say before council has to get into the weeds of the rest of the agenda items.”
Huntone said moving the majority of public comment to the end of the council meeting will impact the ability of residents with job or family commitments from speaking. It is not uncommon for Warren City Council meetings to run until 10 p.m. or later.
Resident Greg Donahoe also spoke in support of leaving audience participation as is.
“A lot of the proposed changes to the rules and procedures are significant and will have an effect on how citizens interact with council,” said Donahoe. “I can’t state strongly enough that splitting audience participation is a big mistake.”
Donahoe said splitting audience participation based on subject matter would put Council President Angela Rogensues in a position of having to determine what is and is not on the agenda.
“While that may seem
like a very simple, binary choice, there are related or tangent matters that could relate to what is on the agenda and it would be a waste of time and energy to try and determine that,” said Donahoe.
Moore contends there are benefits to dividing public comment into two separate items on the agenda.
“Members of the public who wish to address any topic of their choosing can still speak but they will go at the end of the meeting after council business is handled,” said Moore. “Residents and businesses who have agenda items should take priority because they often have to pay legal representatives, architects, engineers, and other professionals to attend meetings.”
Under current City Council Rules of Procedure, audience members may speak for only three minutes. With the proposed amendment, a resident would be allowed three minutes during each public comment section.
“We are attempting to implement best practices from other communities where we can get input on agenda items before voting but still allow residents to speak on any item after the agenda items are addressed.” said Moore.