Durham City Council adopts revised rules of procedure after debate on public-comment limits

The Durham City Council on June 2, 2025, adopted revised rules of procedure for council meetings by a 6-1 vote, after council members and multiple public commenters debated changes that would give meeting officials greater discretion to limit individual speaker time and allow groups to designate a single spokesperson for zoning hearings.

Council members said the changes are intended to clarify longstanding practice for public hearings and to avoid ambiguity in how proponent and opponent time is allocated. The adopted language gives the presiding official discretion to shorten or redistribute speaking time when many people sign up to address an item and explicitly allows a group to designate one speaker to speak on behalf of multiple people.

Supporters said the revisions codify familiar practices. Council members and staff told the council the draft text had been available to the public since November 2024 and that committee members had worked on the language for about a year. Opponents and several public commenters said they feared the changes could reduce the ability of individual residents to speak, particularly for complex zoning items that affect where people live.

Pam Andrews, a public commenter, urged keeping three-minute speaker allotments for zoning matters, saying the public needs time to rebut material presented by applicants during hearings. Another commenter, Mimi Kessler, said group time limits can work only if residents can see each speaker’s allotted time; she urged safeguards to avoid curtailing meaningful testimony.

Council members discussed specific provisions. The revised text distinguishes between “proponents” (applicants) and other community proponent-speakers, assigns a baseline allotment that can be adjusted by the presiding official, and adds a clause that when many people wish to speak the presiding official may shorten individual time to allow broader participation. Councilor Javiera Caballero and others said the committee added language so the mayor or presiding official would retain flexibility to manage lengthy hearings.

The motion to adopt the revised rules was opened and seconded on the record; the council adopted the rules by a recorded vote of 6-1 (tally: yes 6, no 1). The public record shows the council’s final version will be entered into the official minutes and posted as the adopted text.

The adopted rules change how the council schedules and manages public testimony on zoning and non-zoning items going forward, but do not eliminate the public comment period. The city clerk indicated she will circulate a redline version incorporating the last-minute edit referenced during the meeting.

The council took the procedural vote before moving on to other agenda items including the first-quarter crime report and a public hearing on the proposed fiscal 2025–26 budget.