Resident accuses council of seeking to limit public broadcast of community comment and presses TIF transparency

During the Jan. 7 community-comment period resident Ralph Sickert (4311 Cornelia Circle) criticized a remark he attributed to Council Member Jackson at the Dec. 17 meeting — that community comment was "meant for the council, not the public" and should be taken "off camera." He told the council he was embarrassed by any plan to take public comment off the broadcast and urged the council to consider returning excess TIF funds to Edina schools and Hennepin County rather than retaining them in the city's general fund.

Sickert said his December remarks had focused on the city's handling of TIF surpluses and alleged the city was unwilling to return $9,000,000 of excess TIF funds to Edina Schools and another $9,000,000 to Hennepin County while keeping $9,000,000 for the city's general fund. "My lived experience is that I'm embarrassed by the council's unwillingness to return excess TIF funds to the schools in the county," he said.

Manager Scott Neal responded that the speaker had the right to make statements under the process but had not posed questions and staff limit follow-up at the subsequent meeting to answering questions rather than rebutting political speech. Council members then discussed whether to pilot taking community comment off camera for a trial period, with several members noting First Amendment limits on regulating content but allowing regulation of time, place and manner. Council consensus was to examine the issue further—potentially in a workshop—to understand practices in other cities and to weigh staff and resident impacts before changing policy.

The exchange highlighted a broader council conversation about civic trust, broadcast of public comment during election cycles, and how to balance open public access with protection of staff from direct, sometimes personal criticism.