CLEVELAND — Cuyahoga County Council members have decided to temporarily limit how many people can speak during the public comment period of their council meeting.
This public comment policy change comes after weeks of meetings that ran late into the night. Much of the high interest was in response to a resolution that was proposed earlier this year to halt all investments into Israeli or other foreign securities.
Though that resolution was dissolved in June, attendance at their council meetings remained high, with public comment sign-ups continuing to have more than 60 signatures.
Following the continuous long meetings council adopted a new public comment policy for the month of July. Under the previous policy, there was no limit to the number of people who could sign up before the meeting, and each got a 3-minute window at the stand.
During July, there is still no limit on how many can sign up for public comment, but only 20 people will be called on and they will be picked randomly. For those that are not called on, they can submit their comments online.
July 16 was the first meeting with the new policy, and at least one commenter expressed disapproval.
“Its incredibly undemocratic, if you don't want to sit here and listen to your constituents, then don't run for county council, need I remind you, you work for us,” said the speaker at the stand.
Council President Pernel Jones Jr. released a statement writing that they want to hear to public and want to ensure they hear everyone:
"The goal of instituting temporary public comment guidelines and considering permanent public comment changes is twofold: one, to guarantee that a wide range of resident voices are heard on a variety of topics, and two, to ensure that County business can be conducted in a timely and orderly fashion. Council has always valued the critical role public comment plays in our democracy, and that will not change."
Councilman Michael Gallagher over District 5 agreed, adding that public comment rules needed to be updated for security and order of the meeting.
“Ultimately, this is about getting to our business to get into our work. A council meeting is a business meeting and the point of the council to do the people's work and obviously, this was dragging on a little bit,” said Gallagher.
The temporary policy changes expire on Aug. 1. Tuesday council has to decide how to move forward. During a committee meeting, members proposed options, including a 2-minute limit or a separate listening session.
“I’m not against having an open forum or longer conversation if there are people showing up,” said Councilwoman Meredith Turner, District 5.
While Councilwoman Cherly Stephens raised concerns about putting any limits on free speech.
“I just hate to see any curbing of free speech, we are elected to listen to them but we should and respond to them in a timely basis,” said Stephens.
The next steps could be an extension on the current policy from Aug. 1 to Sept. 30 to a lot more time for the council to come to an agreement on a long-term public comment policy.
