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Committee debates removing public-address requirement and preserving three-minute public-comment rule
Summary
Council members debated consolidating rules to stop requiring speakers to say their home address on the record, while keeping paid/volunteer-affiliation disclosures and maintaining three-minute per-speaker and 15-minute per-topic limits; members asked the law director for clarification about sunshine-law implications and sign-in logistics.
The Committee of the Whole discussed a proposed consolidation of council rules 13 and 27 to remove the requirement that speakers state their home address on the public record while retaining disclosure of paid or volunteer affiliations and the existing time limits (three minutes per speaker, 15 minutes per topic unless extended by vote).
Resident Mary Abel (voice 10) addressed the committee and urged procedures that allow question-and-answer exchanges with presenters and clear separation of proponent and opponent testimony so public records are easy to review. "I think it is always good to have that opportunity to ask questions of anyone doing a presentation or testimony," she said.
Council members expressed competing priorities: Member Swank (voice 6) stressed the need to know whether a speaker lives within city limits for Athens-centric topics and suggested capturing residency through a sign-in sheet rather than broadcast home addresses; Member Wood (voice 8) supported removing home-address disclosures to protect individuals from doxxing while retaining a mechanism to identify residents' wards. The chair asked the law director/parliamentarian to provide guidance on sunshine-law consequences and sign-in logistics before the committee takes a final vote. Committee members indicated support in principle to merge the rules and to return a drafted amendment for regular-session consideration.
