As per the originally passed guidelines, speakers were limited to three minutes, made to sign up at least 10 minutes before the meeting with name and address and back and forth between speakers and council was not permitted. The comment portion was also limited to residents of the city of Trenton only.
In Thursday’s meeting, residents requested changes to the guidelines.
“I don’t think we’re being great neighbors as the city of Trenton to people near us,” said resident Angie Markham. “What happened at the last meeting further confirms that for me. We are the bad neighbors.”
Lebanon resident Georgeton told Trenton councilmembers while at the podium she had sent each of them a notice, saying she would sue if the original guidelines remained in place.
Journal-News partner WCPO asked her why she was on the verge of litigation.
“Because it was serious being locked out of conversations,” Georgeton said.
In Thursday’s meeting, Vice Mayor Floyd Croucher, who first proposed the motion for the public comment guidelines, acknowledged they were imperfect.
“Is this perfect? No, it’s not,” he said. “Are we going to tweak it and make it better, yes we are.”
Mayor Ryan Perry said the guidelines were needed to prevent arguments between speakers, councilmembers and people in the crowd.
“If you saw what happened at the last meeting, I mean, I almost had to throw my dad out. We need to be respectful,” Perry said.
Under revised guidelines, a three- to five-minute time limit at the discretion of the presiding officer will remain in place.
Those wishing to speak will not be required to sign up 10 minutes before the meeting. Instead, council decided that those who sign up get to speak first before an open comment period.
A restriction on back and forth between council and public speakers was also kept in place, with an additional limit to prevent speakers from addressing other members of the public in the crowd.
A motion has been placed on Thursday’s council meeting agenda to rescind the original guidelines put in place March 5 and replace them with the revised guidelines.
Perry and other councilmembers said they wanted to remove the rule limiting public comment to only Trenton residents, but a change in the language of a city ordinance would be needed before that could happen.
A separate piece of legislation on Thursday’s agenda will revise Section 210.02 of the city’s ordinances, changing the language from “citizen” to a “member of the public” in regard to public comment.
The legislation will be passed as an emergency to ensure it takes effect immediately, according to Perry, allowing people who live outside of Trenton to speak before council again.
Journal-News partner WCPO contributed to this report.
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