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Liberty council weighs opening public comment and who may speak
Summary
Councilors debated changing the public-comment sign-up deadline and who may speak at meetings, including whether property owners or residents should be prioritized, and discussed limits such as three minutes per speaker and a 30-minute cap for the period.
The council reviewed how citizens sign up to speak at meetings and whether the current deadline–sign-up with the clerk by 4:30 p.m. Friday for a Monday meeting–should be relaxed.
The moderator said she wants to make it easier for people to bring items before council, proposing either walk-in sign-up at the meeting or maintaining the Friday deadline. "If you come up with something over the weekend that you would like to bring in front of council before a Monday meeting, I would like to make it the ability for you to be able to do that," she said.
Discussion centered on eligibility and prioritization. Several councilors favored prioritizing city residents, property owners and local business operators while allowing occasional 'open' sessions where non-residents can speak. One councilor raised a ZIP-code edge case where a person has a Liberty mailing address but lives in a neighboring county and questioned whether that person should have the same speaking privileges.
Members suggested operational steps to balance openness and order: online forms to capture where speakers live and which ward they represent, holding one 'open' night per month for non-resident speakers, and limiting public comment to three minutes per speaker with a suggested 30-minute total for the period. Staff and council agreed to draft ordinance language options for further review.
No final ordinance was adopted during the session.
