Council amends city code to set regular meeting day and tighten public-comment language

The Bay City Council approved an ordinance amending Chapter 2 of the city code to designate the fourth Tuesday of each month as the city’s regular council meeting date (with alternative dates near holidays) and to simplify the city’s public-comment rule.

Gina Thompson, city staff, presented the ordinance and the proposed meeting schedule and explained the change was intended to give the public a single, predictable regular meeting date while leaving flexibility to schedule additional meetings as needed. Thompson said she had prepared a published schedule through 2026 so the public can pencil in dates and noted November 11 (Veterans Day) falls on a regular meeting day; the council agreed to move that meeting to the third Tuesday of November for 2025.

Council debated wording that would allow a speaker to address multiple agenda items for three minutes each and sought to avoid creating a loophole that would permit filibustering by repeating unrelated comments. After discussion, council voted to remove the second sentence in the draft ordinance that could be read to allow multiple three-minute public-comment slots on different topics and to leave the public-comment period at three minutes per speaker as currently practiced at the start of meetings. As presented in the meeting, Thompson explained that presentation by citizens remains an agenda item and council can allow public remarks during specific agenda items at the mayor’s discretion.

Council adopted the ordinance with the clarified language and approved the proposed meeting schedule for the remainder of 2025 and into 2026. The ordinance change was intended to provide calendar certainty for both council and the public and to avoid unintended expansion of public-comment time during agenda consideration.