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Lincoln County amends public comment rules to allow five-minute comments, removes five-speaker cap
Summary
The Lincoln County Board of Commissioners voted Jan. 13 to change its public comment policy, increasing individual speaker time from three to five minutes and removing a five-speaker limit on the same topic while retaining a total-speaker time cap. The change followed public testimony and a unanimous roll-call vote.
The Lincoln County Board of Commissioners voted Jan. 13 to amend its public comment policy, increasing individual comment time from three minutes to five and deleting a sentence that limited public comment to no more than five speakers on the same topic.
Rudy Grove of the State's Attorney's Office told the board an annual review of the policy was required under the board's rules and that staff did not recommend changes. "At this point we haven't heard any feedback from the commissioners and staff is not recommending any changes," Grove said while reviewing the policy's time and speaker-limit provisions.
The board received extensive public comment urging the change. Linda Montgomery of Fairview said she has been cut off after three minutes and asked the board to amend the policy: "I have been called many times on 3 minutes, and it's very degrading," she said. Multiple other residents from Harrisburg, Canton, Worthing and elsewhere urged five-minute comments and objected to limiting the number of speakers on a topic.
A commissioner moved to amend the rule to five minutes per speaker and to remove the five-speaker-per-topic sentence; another commissioner seconded the motion. Commissioners discussed keeping the overall maximum public-comment block (the policy lists 30 minutes) and preserving chair discretion over meeting flow. One board member said the change protects future speakers from strict enforcement by less-flexible officeholders, adding that "what I care about is the public gets to say their piece." (The speaker is recorded in the transcript.)
The board approved the amendment in a roll-call vote; the clerk read the vote and the motion carried. Under the amended policy, individual speakers receive five minutes; the specific numeric cap on the number of speakers on a given topic was removed but the meeting-level total time limit remains in the adopted policy.
The change takes effect immediately and will be reflected in the county's posted rules. The State's Attorney's Office noted the policy is drafted to align with standard practice and referenced SDCL 125 in the policy review.
What happens next: the clerk will update the posted public comment guidelines to reflect the five-minute individual limit and removal of the five-speaker sentence. The board did not direct additional study or return the policy for further amendment at this meeting.
