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Worcester subcommittee holds remote-participation decisions, denies 5-minute public-comment proposal and advances review of conduct rules
Summary
At the March 4 meeting the subcommittee held action on extending statewide remote-participation allowances, denied a petition to increase public-comment time from two to five minutes, held a petition to have the clerk read a relinquish‑the‑chair rule, approved a review of conduct rules and held related hearing requests for later consideration.
WORCESTER, Mass. — The Worcester City Municipal Legislative Operations Subcommittee on Tuesday split on a series of related procedural petitions: it held action on statewide remote-participation extensions, rejected a proposal to lengthen public-comment time from two to five minutes, and agreed to review rules and best practices governing councilors’ conduct.
City Solicitor Alexandra Calcuttas told the committee the state’s temporary suspension of certain Open Meeting Law provisions that allowed broad remote participation was scheduled to lapse at the end of March 2025 and that the city could request that state officials consider an extension but could not unilaterally extend the state law. Calcuttas said the committee could ask state representatives to pursue an extension and provide a report to the subcommittee; members voted to hold the item to a later March meeting so the state’s position may be clearer.
On the petition to increase public-comment time from two minutes to five minutes…
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