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After executive session on meeting management, Boulder council directs staff to expand temporary-suspension authority and enforce presentation rules
Summary
Council held an executive session under CRS 24-6-402(4)(b) for legal advice about meeting management and the First Amendment, voted 8-0 to convene, then directed staff to return with emergency-capable administrative language extending city manager authority to suspend facility access and to enforce existing rules on public presentations.
Boulder City Council convened a virtual executive session at the start of its Feb. 6 meeting under Colorado Revised Statutes §24-6-402(4)(b) "for a conference with the attorneys for the city for the purpose of receiving legal advice on specific legal questions regarding meeting management and the First Amendment."
The motion to enter executive session passed by roll call, 8–0. Council met in the executive session and reconvened in the regular meeting; no council action or vote took place during the closed session beyond the authorized legal consultation.
Afterward, during the open-meeting portion, council discussed operational options for reducing disruption at public meetings. Staff and attorneys briefed council on existing authority: the city manager currently may temporarily suspend privileges to use certain recreation, park, senior and youth facilities for persons violating code provisions; that suspension authority did not automatically apply to all city-owned facilities (notably council chambers and related civic spaces). City attorneys and managers proposed extending that temporary-suspension authority to additional municipal facilities to provide a non-criminal administrative tool for addressing repeated or extreme disruptions during public meetings.
Council members generally supported bringing back an emergency-capable administrative amendment so the city manager could, in certain circumstances, temporarily suspend an individual’s privilege to use specific municipal facilities. A majority of council indicated support for staff to prepare such language on an accelerated schedule; staff will return with draft language and legal analysis for council review. Council also directed the city clerk to enforce an existing rule preventing unscreened slide decks and videos from being shown from the public podium and to publicize that practice.
Councilmembers discussed alternative approaches including stricter limits on public-comment topics and frequency; those possible changes were not adopted and will require further council deliberation. Several council members emphasized reliance on established procedures and on law enforcement only when there is an immediate physical-safety threat; staff said physical removal or arrest remains an option in cases of violent behavior.
What was decided: Council requested staff return with draft administrative language (potentially as an emergency measure) extending the city manager’s temporary-suspension authority to additional city facilities and to publicize the immediate enforcement of existing presentation rules at council meetings. No ordinance was adopted at this meeting.
