With a little bit of fur flying in the commissioners’ room of the courthouse during county board meetings over the last couple of months, the board has decided to look at creating written guidelines for the public comments period of the meeting shortly after the meeting gets started.
Opponents of the way the proposed community center project has been approached have been speaking out, and sometimes commissioners have spoken back. Recently, Molly Hoffman’s criticisms regarding the transparency of the board in regard to a feasibility study on the proposed community center were reciprocated with Commissioner Fritz Sobanja calling her a liar. A week later, both apologized to the other, and Molly offered flowers from her garden.
On June 26, no one spoke during the public comment period. On the agenda, however was time for a discussion of creating “procedures” for that part of the meeting.
Commissioner Sobanja said he thought they needed to set some parameters, and he suggested that one of them be to not schedule that portion of the meeting so early in the meeting, which starts at 8:30 a.m. the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month and whenever the Human Services Board is done meeting on the third Tuesday of the month. “They really should not expect that county commissioners be subject to grueling interrogation at that time of the morning,” he said.
Commissioner Bruce Martinson said he was concerned that without guidelines, the public comment period could turn into a “circus,” especially as elections draw near.
Board Secretary Janet Simonen had collected samples of other boards’ written guidelines for public comment periods. She gave them the guidelines used by Cook County’s ISD 166 school district, the City of Grand Marais, and Freeborn County.
Commissioner Hakes, formerly the mayor of Grand Marais, said she liked the city’s guidelines but suggested adding some elements from the others as well, such as prohibiting individual attacks on board members, allowing the board to ask questions of the speaker, and leaving open the possibility of adding the speaker’s topic to that day’s agenda.
Commissioner Sobanja suggested that they require people to read written statements that they would then submit to the board. He also liked the idea of limiting this portion of the meeting to 15 minutes and of allowing the board to respond to the public.
Commissioner Bruce Martinson suggested that they limit comments to five minutes per person but put the topic on the agenda for later in the meeting if more discussion were needed.
Commissioner Hakes will draft a policy based on suggestions from the board, which they will discuss at a future meeting.
Factors under consideration for inclusion in guidelines for a public comment period during county board meetings:
. How long each person can speak;
. How long a single topic can be discussed;
. How long the entire public comment
period will last;
. How many people can speak on the
same topic;
. Who the speaker can and cannot address
remarks to (such as individuals on the
board or people not on the board);
. Whether comments must be submitted
in writing to the board;
. Whether board members will ask or
answer questions or engage in dialogue
with the speaker(s);
. Whether the topic can be added to that
day’s agenda for further discussion.
Leave a Reply