Committee Advances Time Limits for Council Debate, Public Comment Flexibility

The Governmental Processes Committee moved forward Aug. 6 with proposals to limit how long Councilmembers can debate agenda items and give presiding officers discretion to reduce public comment time when meetings draw large crowds.

The changes, part of the committee's required biennial review of council procedures, address concerns about meeting efficiency.

Councilmembers face the clock

Under the proposed system, Councilmembers would be limited to 15 minutes for initial comments on agenda items, 10 minutes for subsequent remarks, and five minutes for final statements.

"I'm hesitant to put time limits on Councilmembers," said Vice Chair Jim Perry. "But at the same time, I'm also willing to give it a try to see how it works."

Committee Chair Philip Falcone strongly advocated for the restrictions, arguing they create parity between elected officials and the public.

"I believe strongly in timing the Councilmembers just because if we are going to ask the residents, our bosses, to be concise and to be timed, I think that the same should be done to the Councilmembers," Falcone said.

"If you've gone to Congress and sat before committees, you've watched, they have 10 minutes, they can yield back time, and at 10 minutes, they're cut off," Conder explained. "So putting a time limit on is not unusual."

Public comment at presiding officer's discretion

Rather than establishing automatic triggers for reducing public comment time, the committee agreed to give presiding officers flexibility to adjust the standard three-minute limit when circumstances warrant.

Conder referenced a February meeting that lasted 4½ hours due to extensive public testimony on an issue he said was "out of the purview of the City Council."

"If you can't say in one minute what you want to say, you got a problem," Conder said, recalling lessons from his military career. "I learned that as a junior officer when I was briefing a four star. At the end he said, 'Appreciate what you said. Next time do it in a minute because half of what you said just was not necessary.'"

The committee rejected an initial proposal that would have automatically reduced speaking time to two minutes when 25 or more speakers sign up.

"I would like to just leave it up to the presiding officer," Perry said. "I think that's fair. I think that's equitable."

Falcone agreed, noting that automatic triggers could lead to "people counting comment cards" and preferred giving discretion to whoever is running the meeting.

Both the Councilmember debate limits and public comment flexibility will advance to the full City Council for consideration as part of the comprehensive update to council rules and procedures.