Vigo County Council narrows member questioning to three minutes, adopts amended rules

The Vigo County Council on a procedural motion limited councilmembers’ questioning of presenters to three minutes and adopted the 2026 council rules with that amendment.

Councilman David Thompson moved to amend Rule 13 to apply the council’s three-minute speaker rule to councilmembers’ questioning of presenters; Councilwoman Vicky Wager seconded. During the roll call on the amendment, Brenda Wilson, David Thompson, Nancy Alsup, Brad Anderson, Vicky Wager and President Steve Ellis voted aye; Randy Gentry voted no, producing a 6–1 result in favor of the change. The council then voted to adopt the amended 2026 rules by roll call (all recorded members present voted aye).

Council members debated whether a time cap would be effective given existing rules that do not limit how often a member may be recognized. Supporters said the amendment would curb lengthy meetings and reduce grandstanding; opponents argued it could constrain substantive oversight. The president clarified that the amendment applies to the length of each uninterrupted question or reply, not the number of times a member may be recognized.

The council recorded the amendment and adoption on the public record and will apply the amended rules going forward. No further substantive policy changes were attached to the rule vote.

The council’s roll-call votes on the amendment and the later adoption were recorded in the meeting minutes; the amendment was introduced during the discussion of adopting the 2026 council rules and the amended rules were adopted before the council moved on to budget adjustments and department requests.