CLEVELAND — Cleveland City Council President Blaine Griffin continues to collect input on possible rule changes for public comment during council meetings after Griffin reports too many speakers are causing a disruption.
Griffin told News 5 that no decisions have been made on public comment guidelines changes and made it clear changes were under consideration long before the conflict in the Middle East became a subject during council meetings.
Griffin said speakers have been stepping out of line far too often and said alleged anti-Semitic and anti-LGBTQ+ comments made during a Sept. 25 council meeting is what started the rules change analysis.
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“There were some very strong anti-LGBTQ+, some very strong anti-Semitic and other condescending remarks," Griffin said. “We’ve had some very huge and large disruptions of council business which is unacceptable.”
Griffin said some individuals involved in the disruptions are a potential safety issue.
“Some very aggressive activities on the part of certain individuals, not the group, individuals the police department has been looking into that," Griffin said. "Several reports of community members, and quite frankly members of council that have said they don’t feel safe in this environment.”
Griffin wouldn't get specific, but according to notes taken from a Nov. 13 draft proposal, limiting public comment to only items on the council agenda or to Cleveland residents has been discussed as a potential change.
“We could try to look at if it should be things that pertain to the city, but there’s a lot of gray area there," Griffin said. “We want to give Clevelanders a voice, but unfortunately a large number of people that are coming aren’t speaking about Cleveland issues and are not City of Cleveland folks.”
Nora Kelley with Clevelanders for Public Comment, who worked to get comment at council meetings established more than two years ago, told News 5 the changes under discussion violate the intent of public comment.
"The purpose of the Clevelanders for Public Comment campaign was to be able to shape what is on the agenda, to help amplify things in the community, to say this is not on the agenda but should be," Kelley said. “To limit the topics of conversation that residents could provide comment on to only items that were under consideration by council in my view that is most troubling. Any improvement should be animated by increasing participation and transparency and not rolling it back.”
Kelley said Clevelanders for Public Comment was also trying to establish guidelines for more formal public comment guidelines during Cleveland council committee meetings, even though some committee chairs have allowed public comment on a case-by-case basis.
Kelley, who also spoke during the public comment portion of the Nov. 27 council meeting, stressed any restriction on speakers would be wrong.
"A council move to limit voices during public comment will only add to the mistrust of public institutions," Kelley said. "It will fuel the growing consensus in Cleveland that voting is not worth the effort.”
Meanwhile, Griffin said no decision on public comment rules changes would likely be made until after the end of the year.
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