To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council
From: Sally Misare, Town Clerk
Title
Discussion/Direction: Unscheduled Public Appearance Speaker Policy
Body
________________________________________________________________________________
Executive Summary
At the June 16, 2015 Council meeting, several Councilmembers discussed reverting to the previous procedure with regard to public comment related to items which are not scheduled on the agenda.
As a reminder, prior to a motion made at the May 19, 2015 meeting, the Council procedure was to allow four (4) minutes per speaker, with no aggregate time limit on speaking, and no preference given to residents versus non-residents.
At the May 19, 2015 meeting, Council determined by a vote of 6-1, that in order to more effectively manage the agenda, and allow for timely completion of all Town business scheduled on the agenda, comments would be limited to three (3) minutes per speaker, for an aggregate of 30 minutes, or until all residents had been heard. If the total time allotted of 30 minutes was not used by residents, non- residents would be allowed to speak in the order they signed up prior to the meeting. Please note, these restrictions were put into place for Unscheduled Public Appearances only, and the rules for speaking about scheduled agenda items when they are opened for public comment were not changed.
When the matter was discussed at the June 16, 2015 meeting, the Town Attorney's office raised an issue about making frequent changes to this procedure, and asked for additional time to conduct research. Additional information on the subject has been provided to Council in a confidential memorandum from the Town Attorney's office.
In addition, the Town Attorney's office is currently working on preparing a comprehensive Policy and Procedure Manual for Council's review. This and other procedural considerations will be addressed in the proposed manual which is planned to be presented to Council during the third quarter of 2015.
If the majority of Council desires to make a change to the procedure adopted on May 19, 2015, and revert to the previous procedure, a motion should be made specifically identifying the desired parameters for Unscheduled Public Appearances.
Proposed Motion
If Council wants to go back to the previous procedures for Unscheduled Public Appearances, an appropriate motion would be:
"I move to allow four (4) minutes per speaker, with no aggregate time limit, and no preference given to residents versus non-residents for Unscheduled Public Appearances."