Commission approves change of procedures for public comments

In an effort to regulate public comments more efficiently, Commissioners approved of a change to open-to-the-public procedures at a Jan. 29 Commission Meeting.

For any public speakers who come to address items that are on the agenda, the procedure will remain the same.

However, should individuals choose to speak on an issue that is not on the agenda, there will be a designated 15-minute time slot for them to address the Commission at the start of the meeting. Any speakers who were not able to present by the end of the 15 minutes would be given another opportunity to do so at the end of the meeting. 

“We have a formal agenda that comes before us that staff puts together with a lot of time and energy,'' Commissioner Mike Moran said on Jan. 29. "A lot of these people who come before us have waited a very long time to get on this agenda. Some of their projects have literally been going on for years and this is their time to be heard. The whole point of this is so public commentary and public testimony can be heard in an organized fashion."

In particular, the new procedure was enacted as a result of large groups who would turn out to the meetings and cause open-to-the-public sections to go over time. As a result, primary agenda items would sometimes be pushed back further in the day.

When first considering changes to public commentary in December, Commissioner Nancy Detert described the large groups of people talking on the same subject as “hijacking” the agenda.

County officials decided to look at eight other counties, including neighboring Charlotte and Manatee counties, to see how their governments dealt with public commentary. Where other counties allow for one or two open-to-the-public sections, Sarasota County offers three opportunities throughout the day of a Commission meeting. Like the majority of the other counties, Sarasota County allows commenters to speak for three minutes. 

"We want to hear what those people want to say, it’s just that they didn’t tell us they were coming and we want to deal with our agenda,” Hines said. “So all we said, ‘If we can’t get your non-agenda item discussed in these 15 or 20 minutes, then we’ll hear it later.’ If it’s going to go so long that it’s going to affect the rest of the agenda, we’re just going to say ‘come back and talk at the end.’"

The new procedure is scheduled to go into effect sometime in February.