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Madison City council to require sign-up and four-minute limit for end-of-meeting public comment
Summary
At its Jan. 21 meeting the Madison City Common Council announced it will require members of the public who wish to speak during the meeting’s public comment period to sign up in advance and will impose a four-minute time limit starting January 2025; the rule will not apply to speakers addressing specific agenda items at the podium.
Madison City’s Common Council announced Jan. 21 that, beginning in January 2025, citizens who want to speak during the meeting’s public comment period will be required to sign up in advance and will be limited to four minutes each.
A council member said the change implements section 30.08 of Ordinance 2024-6, the Common Council Rules, which gives the presiding officer the option to require advance sign-in and to impose a four-minute limit for speakers during the public comment portion of meetings. The council member added that the presiding officer will call speakers in the order they signed up and will time each speaker.
The council member said the sign-up and time limit apply only to the public comment section at the end of meetings and do not apply to people who come to the podium to speak during consideration of a specific ordinance or agenda item. The announcement noted the clipboard for sign-ups will be placed at the front of the meeting room before sessions start.
The change was described as an administrative implementation of the council’s existing rules; no formal vote on the change was recorded at the Jan. 21 meeting. The council said the sign-up process will be used throughout 2025.
