No more waiting to address city

By Jay Ermis
Managing Editor

July 09, 2009 10:09 pm

— Huntsville residents wanting to address the City Council on any matter not on the agenda will no longer have to wait until the end of a council meeting to do so.
The council amended its Rules of Policy and Procedure regarding its Order of Business on the agenda during Tuesday night’s regular session at City Hall.
Council member Mac Woodward made the motion to move up public comments relating to any matter not on the agenda from the last item on the agenda to the fifth item.
The council approved it 7-1.
Comments relating to any matter not on the agenda will precede public comments regarding agenda items only.
Public comments will also be taken, if necessary, relating to any matter not on the agenda after the council member/city manager report.
For items on the agenda, the speaker will be limited to 5 minutes to complete his or her comments.
A limit of one hour is established for completing public comments regarding agenda items.
During public comments regarding any subject, speakers will be limited to 2 minutes to complete their comments.
A limit of 15 minutes is established for completing public comments not on the agenda.
In addition, questions or requests for information shall be directed to the presiding officer who will then determine whether, and in what manner, a response will be provided.
During comments regarding agenda items, council members may request the floor to respond to any resident’s comment with information or to ask follow-up questions as appropriate.
Council members may only direct comments and questions to the speaker and may not take the opportunity to discuss matters among themselves.
Responses to comments or inquiries regarding matters not on the agenda shall be limited to:
• A statement of specific factual information given in response to the inquiry, or,
• A recitation of existing policy in response to the inquiry.
Any deliberation of, or decision about the subject of such an inquiry, shall be limited to a proposal to place the subjhec on the agenda for a subsequent meeting.
“All I was doing was providing for public comments not related to the agenda and moving it to the beginning to the meeting for people to have an opportunity to make public comments at the beginning of the meeting on general topics,” Woodward said.
“I limited that to 15 minutes total time and each person would have 2 minutes,” he said. “The point is the council provides a forum for people to come and express their concerns and tell us about issues or problems they might be having.
“Rather than having to wait until the very end of the meeting, I think it’s appropriate and responsive to let people make their points at the beginning of the meeting. If people do not get to say everything they wanted to say, then there is an another opportunity at the end of the meeting.”
“We will have two public comment slots in the council agenda,” Woodward said. “One at the beginning and one at the end. That also gives people, if things come up in the agenda, they can comment on those things at the end of the meeting, too.
“Now that time period will be open. Hopefully we can get through those at the beginning of the meeting and we won’t need that at the end. At least there will be one other opportunity if people want to comment.”