Murrieta council workshop sets clearer public‑comment and agenda procedures

Murrieta Mayor Warren and the City Council at a special workshop agreed on clearer, written standards for public comment and several agenda procedures the city clerk will bring back for formal adoption.

The council, after extended discussion, directed staff to draft a public‑comment rule that sets a baseline of three minutes per speaker and allows groups of three or more to combine for a maximum of six minutes. Councilmember DeForest said, "we should stick to our three minutes and with groups of three or more, allow them to have six minutes to speak on behalf of the group." The council also confirmed that the mayor may exercise limited discretion to allow a speaker extra time if it is clear the speaker is having difficulty.

Why it matters: council members and the city clerk said written rules would reduce perceived favoritism, improve fairness, and ease confusion among speakers and staff. City Manager Justin Clifton framed the workshop as an opportunity to align daily staff work with council priorities and to reduce ad hoc decision making at the dais.

Key policy directions from the workshop included: - Public comment: baseline three minutes per person; groups of three or more may combine for six minutes; mayor may grant extra time for clear hardship or difficulty. The clerk will draft formal language for a future council meeting. - Donation of time: the council asked staff to draft an objective standard (the 3/6 rule above) rather than leave donations to mayoral preference. - Consent calendar: the council confirmed three minutes total for the consent calendar and three minutes per pulled item when the item is scheduled for separate discussion. Council decided not to give members of the public an automatic right to pull consent items; instead the public may request a council member to move an item during public comment and the council will decide whether to pull it. - Future agenda requests: the preferred path is Option A — council members request items in advance through the city manager so staff can evaluate costs and schedule (the council asked staff to retain a limited Option B for last‑minute needs, provided the clerk and city manager are notified as soon as possible). For closed‑session agenda requests the council favored Option A (advance notice to the city manager) to avoid inadvertent public disclosures. - Administrative clarifications: the council directed staff to draft a policy for invocation or opening prayers, and to consider moving the proclamations/protocols policy from a council policy to an administrative policy for faster processing. The council also asked that the agenda packet continue to be posted on the Thursday before meetings (no change to the delivery day), and that staff favor links for voluminous attachments where feasible to reduce packet size.

The workshop was non‑binding; council members asked staff to return these items as agendized draft policies so the council can vote on formal revisions at a future meeting. The council emphasized the need for objective, content‑neutral standards consistent with the California Brown Act and constitutional protections for speech.