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Public comment debate renews; discussion centers on public hearings
By BRIAN PORTER/Managing Editor
Among the issues during the May election, the one which drew complete agreement from candidates was the restoration of public comment. It has been returned to the forum of city council meetings.
A moment Tuesday may renew the debate not over comment, but on limitation of comments.
David Bryan, a former city councilman and opponent of Mayor John Harper in the May elections, was among the first of 24 speakers during the first public hearing on the budget. His comments exceeded eight minutes and before and after completion of his thoughts Harper, the chair of the meeting, asked for clarity on the time limit of comments during a public hearing from the city attorney.
Rowlett adopted the Roberts Rules as the governing decision for meetings in 2000, which is subject to a 2006 resolution in which it states for public comment, “All persons wishing to address the city council during the citizens input of the meeting shall be limited to three three minutes in duration. However, upon request of the mayor and consent of the city council that time may be extended.” The resolution does address the public input portion of the meeting, but does not address comment during public hearings from the standpoint of a time limit.
In consultation with neighboring Mesquite, a policy for a three-minute time limit is in place during public comment and a policy not to repeat comments and keep them concise is in place for public hearings. These policies have not been enforced in the previous 10 years, including a recent public hearing on a housing development in which about 30 speakers addressed council.
“Legally, the chair can limit comment,” Bryan said. “Council can override the chair by a majority vote.”
In explanation of Mesquite’s rules, the city explains that legally a chair can limit comment. Under the Roberts Rules, a majority vote of council can overrule the decision, according to the state attorney general.
After debate between Councilman Al Alberts and Harper in consultation with the city attorney, the remaining speakers were placed on a clock but any time limit was not enforced.
The prior history of the Rowlett City Council has been to allow public comment without restriction of time.
“We never limited anyone’s speech in citizen’s input,” Bryan said, of councils dating back to 2000.
A few years prior to that, an egg timer was used during public comment by a mayor who would turn off microphones after the time limit expired.
“Mayor (Shane) Johnson fought hard to remove that egg timer,” Bryan said. “We never did interrupt anyone. If someone has things to say, they should be able to say it.”
Bryan was disputing comment which came earlier in the meeting from Harper which indicated that staffing had increased 40 percent at a time when population growth was only 12 percent, criticizing actions of the previous councils. Bryan contends that staffing was increased because the city was understaffed statistically based on staffing levels in the state and the area.
“We were understaffed and people were overworked,” Bryan said. “We had complaints from citizens, perhaps some of them people wanting to move here, that it was taking too long. The staff had too much of a workload. We had too few people doing too much work.”
A request by The Rowlett Lakeshore Times of a statement of position from the city attorney on the chair’s ability to limit comment based on council discussion Tuesday was not received by press deadline. The state attorney general’s office indicated that a public hearing of a city council would be governed by policies and laws in place by that council, which would include Roberts Rules and the 2006 resolution, in regards to time limits on speakers.
Contact Brian Porter at bporter@acnpapers.com or comment on this story at www.scntx.com.
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