Minutes - Council Work Session - 09/02/2014

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Councilmember Backous stated some issues may take ten minutes so he does not want to limit time given to an Open Forum speaker. He stated• he does support the suggested process and asked how it would be implemented and audience members notified. Councilmember Backous noted there is a sign -in sheet that could contain some of this information. He stated the comments being made during Citizen Input should be relevant to City Council business so it does not become a weekly forum for someone to have a television audience. In addition, if called out of order, the speaker must know and agree to step down. Councilmember Kuzma stated he appreciates those comments but thinks the Council should have the ability to limit speech if the speaker is being repetitive so the meeting can move along. Because of that, he supports a tool that allows the Council to close the discussion. Councilmember Kuzma noted there is not a Police presence at other Commission/Board meetings. Police Chief Way suggested that rather than having an officer in attendance, the Chair call a recess, and then call the officer so the officer can enter the meeting to address the need. Councilmember Tossey stated he thinks it is important to not have an arbitrary time limit on Citizen Input speakers but agreed it is good to limit redundancy and eliminate personal attacks. He stated the Continuum of Action relies on the presence of a strong chair that is educated in how to be effective in directing the meeting. Mayor Strommen recalled that at a previous meeting, public comment time was limited during the gun range issue because there were many audience members to be heard and comments had become repetitive. Councilmember Tossey stated this process will provide protection to all. Mayor Strommen stated the issue is more related to meetings with large agendas, large audiences, repetitive comments, and/or personnel attacks. Councilmember Backous agreed that time limits should be set in those situations. Councilmember Johns supported having a plan of action and taking it off camera. Police Chief Way stated he was addressing Citizen Input that is held at the beginning of the meeting because if warranted, the issue raised can be moved to a future agenda, and allows the Council/Commission/Board to get on with its work. He stated at School Board meetings, there is a limit placed on the length that one person can speak. Mayor Strommen stated most people have respected the time limit with Citizen Input. Councilmember Backous agreed and recalled that during the gun range consideration, Mayor Strommen had asked the audience members to not be repetitive and welcomed them to speak if they had a new topic to raise. City Council Work Session / September 2, 2014 Page 6 of 9