Members of the public are invited and permitted to speak at any public, open meeting of the City Council and any other commission, committee, board or other public entity created by or subject to the City's jurisdiction, ordinances and control, subject to the following rules:
A. Individuals wishing to be heard on an item that is not on the agenda may be recognized by the Mayor or Chairperson during the public comment portion of each meeting which will generally be held as one (1) of the initial items of business on the agenda but may, by a majority vote of the members of the public body present at a particular meeting, be moved to a different point on the agenda for that meeting.
B. Individuals wishing to be heard on an item that is included in the agenda will be provided an opportunity to speak by the Mayor or Chairperson during the consideration of that item.
C. Public comment may be restricted to no more than three (3) minutes for each individual speaker. The Mayor or Chairperson may permit additional comment in his or her discretion taking into account the number of persons wishing to be heard on a matter and the amount of business requiring attention.
D. Members of the public may be asked to avoid repeating comments that have already been made, although they may be given the opportunity to indicate that they agree or disagree with an earlier speaker.
E. Members of the public will be required to step forward to the podium and to identify themselves for the record. Members may be asked but are not required to provide an address for the record.
F. The Mayor or Chairperson shall require that order and decorum be maintained at public meetings. This includes prohibiting outbursts from the public or other behavior that is threatening, disorderly or disruptive to the public business. The Mayor or Chairperson may eject from a public meeting any person who, in the Mayor or Chairperson's sole opinion, disrupts the order and decorum of the meeting or otherwise violates the rules of this section.
G. Public comment shall be restricted to the portions of meetings which are required to be open to the public under the Open Meetings Act. Nothing in this section shall be construed to allow public access to or public comment at closed sessions or any other meeting of public officials which is not required to be open to the public under the Open Meetings Act.
H. To the extent necessary, each public body subject to the City's jurisdiction, ordinances and control, shall adopt the public comment rules of this section at the first public meeting of each public body following the adoption of this section. (Ord. 15-O-20, 4-7-2015)