C

At the March 27 meeting of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, the board overruled Mayor Ray Knowis and denied two citizens from having their comments read aloud for the record.

The citizen had submitted their comments in written format to be read by the city recorder at the meeting, knowing they would be unable to attend in person. The board has previously allowed this to be done, providing the comments submitted could be read within the three-minute limit allowed per citizen.

Alderman Kurt Glick protested when Knowis directed the city recorder, Lori Ashley, to read the submitted remarks. The mayor clarified that the board had done this on “a number of occasions before.”

“It takes a lot of gumption to come up here and speak at the meeting and speak in public and represent yourself, and I don’t think just sending a letter in and having read is the proper way to make a public comment,” Glick remarked.

Knowis stated that the remarks were from a citizen who had “extenuating circumstances” but had previously intended to attend. Alderman Jenna Amacher motioned to overrule the chair, citing “setting an improper precedent.”

“As of right now, I think it’s absolutely unfair to the individuals who do show up,” she said. “If they want us to see those comments and those are directed towards the board, we can gladly read those on our own time. It’s not appropriate; come tell me face-to-face. Public comments should be public comments, not private comments sent in for us to read aloud for them.”

Knowis remarked that the act of reading the comments for the record would make them public; however, Amacher’s motion to overrule the chair was seconded by Glick.

“I’ve been here close to four years now,” Alderman Daniel Berry remarked. “The board has always allowed this. It has happened in the past with this current board, minus Derick [Mann], and we’ve never said a word about it. What we’re doing right now is saying, ‘We don’t care about what’s going on in your life. We don’t care if you’ve got kids. We don’t care if you’ve had a death in the family. We don’t care that you can’t make it for whatever reason.’ I’m of the opinion that we should use every possible avenue – these people took time out of their day to write a letter, get it in before the meeting, in a way that we have always historically allowed it. Now we’re changing the rules mid-stream. I would agree with Alderman Amacher; if we want to change the rules and not allow that, then let’s do that. But don’t say: ‘Hey, we’ve traditionally always allowed this, but we’re going to change it right in the middle of the game.’”

Glick read the phrasing of the agenda that denoted the phrase “public comments,” remarking that the comments should be delivered before the public, in person. He stated the importance of being able to verify the identity of the individual making the comments, as well as their residence.

“We can’t just do things because ‘that’s how we’ve always done it,’” Amacher stated. “We will not perpetuate ignorance for the sake of tradition, and I will not be a part of that. I think there is a danger in allowing anybody to just email any comments in, because the next time you get comments, they might not be comments that you want to read out loud.”

Alderman Derick Mann shared that the board members had all received one of the citizens’ comments, as they were emailed to the board prior to the meeting. He questioned why it was necessary for the comment to be read for the record if all members had read it, to which Knowis stated it was important for transparency.

The motion to overrule the chair and not read the comments passed 5-2, with Knowis and Berry against.