Sterling council to consider rules limiting public comments to 3 minutes
The proposed rules would cap the public-comment period at 15 minutes and set procedures for electronic participation, voting, agendas and council decorum.
The Sterling City Council is scheduled to consider rules Tuesday that would limit individual public comments to three minutes and the overall comment period to 15 minutes.
The council is set to discuss and possibly act on Resolution 9-2-26 during its 5:30 p.m. regular meeting at the Council Chambers, 421 N. Fourth St. The amended council packet contains the proposed resolution and rules. The amended agenda lists the item for “discussion and possible action.”
The proposal would repeal previously adopted council rules and replace them with new procedures. It says the rules would take effect upon passage and approval, but the meeting had not occurred as of the article’s publication preparation, so the proposal had not yet become council policy.
Under the proposed rules, speakers at regular business meetings would sign up, speak once and address the presiding officer. The presiding officer could extend the three-minute or 15-minute limits, or close and later reopen the comment period. Separate procedures would apply to public hearings and quasi-judicial matters.
The rules would allow council members to participate electronically in regular, special and study-session meetings if arrangements were made in advance through council consensus. During an emergency, members could participate by telephone or video with a majority vote of members present. Emergency action would require a two-thirds vote and later public affirmation or ratification.
The proposal would set a quorum at four members of the seven-member council. Ordinances and appointments to fill council vacancies would require four affirmative votes. A tie would fail, and proxy voting would be prohibited.
The proposed rules also would establish regular meetings on the second and fourth Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m., subject to holiday-related rescheduling. They would distinguish regular, study-session, executive, special and emergency meetings and lay out an order of business for regular meetings.
The resolution packet lists staff’s recommendation as approval. The council’s action was still pending before the scheduled meeting.