By Andy Dahn
BLOOMINGTON – The public comment portion of Bloomington City Council meetings could be undergoing some changes, but not just yet.
Council members were presented a new ordinance to alter public comment Monday night that included limiting residents to strictly speak about agenda items and allowing public comment to last only 15 minutes. Many aldermen called for changes to the ordinance and City Attorney Jeff Jurgens said it’s back to the drawing board for city staff.
“Council doesn’t want to enact a requirement or require people to speak on issues just germane to the agenda,” Jurgens said. “So we’re going to look at some revisions that would probably still improve the public comment process. It will just be more open then what was originally proposed.”
Jurgens said the changes will give residents more freedom when it comes to public comment topics.
“Council wants to hear from citizens about issues that are not necessarily on the agenda,” said Jurgens. “Maybe there’s an issue with a street that they want to talk about or they had an interaction with a staff member that they want to highlight. Council wants to hear all issues and we are going to make sure that the revised ordinance will encourage that, just as it does right now.”
The original ordinance was met with questions and concerns from several council members, including Alderman Scott Black.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate to be limiting in terms of time frames to ask to speak,” Black said. “So two hours ahead of time is not something that I think is an important criteria for participation. And the germaneness to the agenda topic is another issue. I think people should be able to come in and say pretty much anything that’s on their mind. The only concern that I have is that we don’t want people that are pushing commercial enterprises or different products and services during public comment. That to me is inappropriate and a misuse of our public time.”
Other changes that city staff plans to make include giving residents that are unable to speak at one meeting priority to speak at the next. The new ordinance will be presented for council approval in July.
Andy Dahn can be reached at [email protected].
