Rules committee recommends ordinance to consolidate public participation rules, add 3-minute speaker limit for public hearings

The Lee's Summit Rules Committee voted unanimously to recommend to the full City Council an ordinance that consolidates the city's public comment, public hearing and video-conferencing rules into a single "public participation in meetings" code section and adds a hard time limit for individual speakers at public hearings.

City Attorney Brian Head told the committee he moved language from three separate places in the code (current section 2-45, rule 13 of 2-49 and 2-50) into one section to make participation rules easier to find and to reflect existing practice. "Generally members of the public wishing to speak will be given no more than 3 minutes," Head said, adding that time yielded to a council question would not count against that allotment and that applicants and staff would be given whatever time is required to present an item.

The change formalizes present practice, committee members said. Public commenter Andrew Elson told the committee he had previously been unclear about the distinction between general public comment and comment tied to an agenda item and urged clearer signage and a quick-reference guide for visitors. "I had no clue that those were separate," Elson said.

Committee members also discussed an overall cap on the public-hearing portion of a meeting. One member suggested a 40-minute total cap for public comment at a hearing to prevent repetitive statements and ensure time for deliberation, while keeping flexibility for the chair to extend time or allow a designated group representative to speak longer. Mr. Head said draft language gives the chair authority to ask groups to limit the number of speakers and to provide additional time to a representative as appropriate.

The committee recommended the ordinance for council consideration, with a motion and second recorded in committee and a unanimous vote of present members. Head told the committee the ordinance could be refined before it reaches the full council and that staff would circulate the redlined language; if advanced, it could appear on the March 10 council agenda.

The committee's action is a recommendation only; final adoption would require a City Council vote. The committee also approved routine items, including the action letter for the March Rules Committee meeting.

What happens next: the proposed ordinance will be circulated to committee members and, if put forward by staff, will go to the full City Council for consideration in March.