An ordinance passed regarding public speaking during city meetings came back to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen last week.
Ordinance 1861 received its first read on Aug. 8 and second on Aug. 22. Among other changes, it altered how members of the public could request an opportunity to speak during city government meetings. Per the ordinance, it requested commenters make their intent to speak known 24 hours in advance by contacting the city and being added to a public comment sheet. Additionally, the subject of their comments was required to pertain to items on the agenda.
Alderman Steve Harvey broached the subject during the previous meeting, requesting it be added to the agenda for the following meeting to discuss requirements listed in item six which reads: "Persons requesting to comment must sign up 24 hours prior to the meeting to speak during the meeting by emailing meetings@mcminnvilletn.gov or by calling (931) 473-1203."
“If I remember correctly, that was the way it was presented to us,” said Alderman Stacey Harvey of the requirements. “Last meeting we discovered that it’s not a requirement, it was a suggestion, and I believe it was presented to us as a requirement and that’s why we passed it.”
The change in policy was adopted after the 113th Tennessee General Assembly passed two new laws, Public Chapter No. 213 (“PC 213”) and Public Chapter 300 (“PC 300”) which took aim at providing structure for local government meetings, including public comments. McMinnville’s ordinance was set at state recommendation with some changes.
“As long as we limit them to the time and they stay on the agenda that night, I don’t see a need for 24 hours,” said Alderman Sally Brock. “I feel like that’s too much.”
“I feel the same way,” agreed Steve. “As much as we put it out there, they don’t realize and they’re going to show up and want to talk, and we want to hear what they have to say.”
Steve went on to mention item nine which specifies all items should remain on topic and reads: "All comments must be related to, and will be limited to, items on the agenda."
“It’s like that time when folks from Forest Park had problems with the dogs over there and they came and let us know about it,” said Steve. “It wasn’t on the agenda, but it felt like it was a productive meeting and we got good results out of learning that. That isn’t as critical to me as the 24-hour notice, but it kind of caught my eye.”
“I’m just thinking out loud for this, but would it be advisable to make sure any public comment here is not first notice to the city? That maybe if it goes to the city administrator and isn’t resolved, then it comes here?” asked Stacey.
City Administrator Nolan Ming indicated the original specifications targeted those situations.
“A lot of times, when they (speakers) come here, they’ve waited two weeks for a meeting when they could have called us two weeks ago, or a week, whatever it may be, and we could have resolved the issue already,” said Ming. “So, yes, I agree. That’s the goal, to catch these as soon as possible and address the issues right away. We want to be as responsive as possible and waiting for a meeting didn’t seem like the best way.”
“It’s easy for us to sit here and say this would be the best way, but who knows if there’s some personal issue where they don’t want to deal with a particular individual, and I’m kind of going back to the way we’ve had it the whole three years I’ve been on this board,” said Stacey. “We had one individual who would come in here and we would give him his two minutes, but outside of that, we haven’t had any issues.”
After receiving guidance from City Attorney Tim Pirtle on how best to address changing the current ordinance, the board chose to amend the existing policy. Stacey Harvey motioned to remove item six which required 24 hours of notice to speak, which was seconded by Deitra Dunlap. All in attendance voted in favor of the motion. Absent was Alderman Rachel Kirby and Mayor Ryle Chastain.
In addition to the removal of item six, Alderman Keri Morton motioned to strike item nine from the ordinance requiring public comments to pertain to the agenda, which was seconded by Stacey.
“Because sometimes our agenda comes out on a Thursday or a Friday for the proceeding Tuesday, we’re going to be narrowing that stuff down,” said Stacey.
All board members voted in favor of the removal of item six, with the exception of Kirby and Chastain who were absent from the meeting.
“I have one question, item eight from that policy,” said Ming. “It speaks to the need for each approved speaker to add their name and address to a public comment sheet. I would assume that would go away as well?”
As the two line items were directly in connection with one other, they were lumped into the previous vote to strike rule six and no additional motion was necessary. Rule eight reads: Prior to the commencement of the meeting each approved speaker shall add their name and address to the Public Comment Sheet.
As this was only discussion, the amendments will need to receive two reads in order to be made official on record. It will be on the agenda for the Nov. 28 meeting. All prospective public comments should still adhere to current policy.
