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Fountain Hills council keeps online comment-card system, agrees to earlier submission deadlines and possible automation
Summary
Councilors debated whether to keep the online comment-card system created during the pandemic and settled on retaining it while moving the submission deadline to the end of the day Monday; staff were asked to look for ways to automate tabulation to save time.
Fountain Hills Town Councilors debated whether to retain the online public comment-card system used to collect written comments from residents and nonresidents. Council members said the form is a useful, uniform way for people who cannot attend meetings to register views; others said the system consumes staff time and produces duplicate or frivolous entries.
Town Clerk Bev described the current process: "Currently, I believe that the comment cards are submitted electronically. And we note whether they're for or against, and we give the mayor the count ... and those comment cards are not read. They're just strictly it's a summary of how many we received and what that actual count was." Bev told the council the compilation process can take "maybe an hour and a half to 2 hours" depending on volume.
Council members discussed alternatives including (a) eliminating the comment card and asking residents to email mayorandcouncil@fountainhillsaz.gov, (b) keeping the comment card but automating tabulation, or (c) moving the deadline earlier to give staff and council time to review submissions.
After discussion the council coalesced around keeping the comment-card system while moving the submission deadline to the end of the business day on the Monday before a Tuesday meeting. Town Clerk Bev said the day-before deadline would better support staff processing needs. Council members also asked staff to explore ways to automate tabulation and produce a concise summary (for example, totals for and against and deduplication) so councilors receive a readable package before meetings.
Councilors emphasized the public-access rationale for keeping the system: several members noted that some residents rely on the comment cards because they cannot attend in person and that emailing alone can leave submissions inconsistent across council inboxes. The council asked staff to return a redlined rules-of-procedure draft showing the new deadline and any automated workflow options for compilation.
What happens next: staff will revise the draft rules to set the comment-card deadline to end of business on Monday before Tuesday meetings, investigate automating compilation, and return recommended language to council for formal action.
