There is hereby established the following procedure to address a public concern to Council during the Public Comment portion of every regular and special meeting of Council:
(a) "Citizens," for purposes of this section only, shall be defined as City residents and City taxpayers.
(b) "Agenda Action Items" shall be comprised of proposed ordinances, resolutions, motions, proclamations, and any other item which appears on the agenda and is subject to a vote by City Council. All other items shall be considered Non-Agenda Action issues, to be addressed at the conclusion of the meeting as provided below, in order to ensure that the City can conduct its business in an orderly fashion. Council reserves the right to make accommodations to this policy where warranted by extenuating circumstances, as determined by majority vote and in consultation with the City Solicitor.
(c) Citizens wishing to address the Council at its regular or special meetings may do so by giving notice verbally or in writing by providing their name, address, and the subject matter to be discussed to the Office of the City Manager before 4:30 p.m. on the day of the meeting at 814-553-2001 or by entering their information on the City Council form located on the podium in Council Chambers between 4:30 p.m. and the calling of the meeting to order by the presiding officer on the evening of the meeting.
(1) Citizens speaking on Agenda Action Items may speak for up to five minutes total during the public comment period held at the beginning of the meeting.
(2) Those citizens speaking on general, Non-Agenda Action Item matters may speak for up to three minutes during the period offered for such public comment at the end of the meeting.
(d) Every request to speak registered by a City resident or City taxpayer will be honored by the presiding officer at the Council meeting as set forth in paragraph (c)(1) and (c)(2) above, absent exigent circumstances.
(e) When a large group wishes to speak on the same issue, a spokesperson should be designated to address Council on that issue.
(f) Exchanges with Council members or others during the course of any given speaker's public comment period will be included in the calculation of time allotted for such speech. As a result, Council members and other City officials and representatives should refrain from interrupting or otherwise engaging in conversations with said speakers during this period of time.
(g) Any person making offensive, insulting, threatening, insolent, slanderous or obscene remarks or who has become boisterous or who makes threats against any person or against public order and security while in the Council Chambers, shall be forthwith barred by the presiding officer from further audience at the meeting and/or removed, and further barred from attending future meetings unless granted permission by a majority vote of the Council members present.
(Res. 8499. Passed 9-9-98; Ord. 5177. Passed 5-19-15; Ord. 5210. Passed 10-26-16; Ord. 5255. Passed 7-11-18.)