Today under item 24 City Council voted 7-1 to amend the Rules of Order such that public comment on all agenda items will be confined to a set period starting at 10:00am.
Up until now, members of the public spoke to agenda items at the moment they came up for discussion and action, commenting just after staff presentations and City Council discussion. That way they would be heard moments before our elected leaders cast their votes, maximizing their impact.
With this reform, members of the public will only be permitted to speak during public comment, beginning at 10:00am, but to as many agenda items they wish, for three minutes per item, and they may also have an additional three minutes to speak on any topic they wish.
The public will benefit from the convenience of speaking at a fixed time rather than waiting hours for a specific agenda item, but the impact of their comments will be diminished by the long delay until the item(s) come up for a vote.
Reps. Fierro and Maldonado-Rocha co-sponsored the agenda item and had intended to decrease public comment from three minutes to two minutes per agenda item, but Rep. Canales swooped in and successfully amended the motion to maintain the current limit of three minutes.
Rep. Acevedo was the only member of City Council who insisted until the end that public comment remain unchanged and voted accordingly, and we commend him on his principled stance.
Of course, City Council failed to consider that any member of the public could potentially speak to every item on the agenda and force everyone to listen for 90 minutes or more! Imagine if a group of activist clowns decided to hijack public comment for a dozen hours. Never mind…
PHOTO CREDIT: Austin American-Statesman