Council weighs reducing address requirements for general public comments to protect privacy

City staff brought an item asking whether the council should revise public-comment forms and procedures after a constituent raised privacy concerns about requiring street addresses for general public comments. Staff noted the governance manual and code currently contain inconsistencies, and that the online portal requires a street address for comments.

"My thinking on this... is that you probably could go to a practice of if it's just general public comment that you ask the commenter to state whether they are a City Of McCall resident, and if they're not, what city or county they're they are a resident of," a staff member told council, explaining that knowing whether someone is a constituent is useful while avoiding involuntary disclosure of a full street address. Staff recommended continuing to require addresses for quasi-judicial land-use hearings where proximity is legally relevant, but to relax requirements for general comments and update portal fields accordingly.

Council discussed privacy trade-offs and the need to weigh anonymous or out-of-area comments differently. Members asked staff to return with proposed changes that capture resident/county status and preserve due-process needs for land-use notice and hearings.