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Commissioners press staff over late, batched public comments; staff to review procedures
Summary
Vice Chair Chang and other commissioners said public comments were delivered in batches and not searchable or timely, hampering responsiveness; staff said the noon meeting‑day deadline applies and will examine clearer procedures and technical fixes.
Vice Chair Chang used the commissioners’ announcements period on Jan. 14 to raise a procedural complaint: several batches of public comments submitted for prior meetings were delivered to commissioners as grouped PDF files, not to individual inboxes, and several were received too late for timely review.
"I believe in one of the former batches we had received a public comment from the appellant that started this whole legislation... but I couldn't find it," Chang said, arguing that the change in delivery since Oct. 25 reduced commissioners' ability to respond and to be searchable. Chang asked staff to make the public‑comment cutoffs and distribution practices clearer on agendas.
Assistant Director Armour said the general deadline for written public comment is noon on the day of the meeting and offered to research whether applicant correspondence should be handled as public comment or as private correspondence. Armour invited commissioners to email suggestions and said staff would look into clearer procedures for distribution and searchability.
Several commissioners criticized the current process. "It's unacceptable to be blocked from that," Commissioner Templeton said, offering to participate in an ad‑hoc review or to help staff with technical improvements. Commissioner Gee and Commissioner Peterson also echoed concerns and offered assistance.
Staff said they will review procedures, consider clearer agenda language about deadlines, and explore technical fixes so commissioners receive and can search public comments in a timely way. The Commission did not take formal action; staff follow‑up was requested.
