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Committee approves draft written public‑comment policy for council and standing committees; forwards to full council
Summary
The Government Operations Committee approved a written public‑comment policy that codifies existing practice, allows the chair limited discretion for standing committees and establishes a 15‑minute general comment window at council meetings; the draft will be forwarded to full council.
City Solicitor David Sepchak returned to the committee with a revised draft of a written public‑comment policy. Sepchak said the draft mainly records current practice—acknowledging requests within five days and treating council meetings as a limited public forum that restricts comment to city business—but adds a clarified structure for general public comment: 15 minutes at the start of council meetings and a chair’s option to reserve up to 45 minutes at the end of the meeting for those who attend for specific agenda business.
The draft clarifies that general public comment is limited to city business and that comments that are obscene, threatening or disruptive may be curtailed in the limited public forum. A new flexibility in the draft gives standing‑committee chairs discretion to allow a general public comment period at a standing committee meeting; the solicitor said that change reflected committee input from a Jan. 13 discussion.
After discussion about consistency across advisory and appointed committees, the committee voted to forward the draft to the full council for formal consideration. Members discussed whether the city should later extend the policy to advisory or council‑appointed committees and asked staff to return with options if the council wants a broader standard.
