Spokane County commissioners adopt clearer rules for public testimony, keep chair discretion on time limits

The Spokane County Board of County Commissioners on a unanimous vote adopted amendments to the county’s open public forum policy and accompanying rules of conduct that make a testifier’s street address voluntary, standardize a default three‑minute speaking limit and give the chair authority to extend time, and bar a speaker from allocating their time to another person.

County legal counsel presented the proposed changes as the product of three workshops and a review of other jurisdictions’ forum rules. The counsel said state case law supports not requiring speakers to give their address and that the proposed changes align the county’s practices with other local governments. "Counties in the state of Washington are not required to hold open public forums," county counsel said, and the county has chosen to continue doing so while updating the rules.

The revisions aim…