Saline Council Amends Public Comment Requirements

Saline City Council amended the language regarding restrictions during the first public comment period of each regular meeting at their March 2 meeting.

Council meetings have two allotted periods for public comment: one before the meeting’s formal agenda, and one after. Previously, speakers of the first public comment were restricted to topics on the docket for the meeting, while commenters during the second period were not.

“My office received a very thoughtful memo/email from a constituent requesting that we modify or change our long-standing policy and permit public comments at the top of the meeting to also include agenda items that are not articulated on the agenda,” Mayor Brian Marl said.

Councilmember Jean Harmount expressed support for the change.

“I think that bringing it to the front of the meeting would be maybe more accessible to folks from a time standpoint,” she said. “Sometimes our meetings go late, so maybe more people would be able to be involved.”

Councilmember Janet Dillon stated that while she appreciated the organization the structure gave, she agreed that the timing could lead to the public being unable to make their opinions heard.

“When there is an issue in the community and somebody has to sit through an hour and a half meeting to get their three minutes, I don’t think it’s necessarily fair to them,” Dillon said. “We don’t get a lot of people in the audience for public comment and to donate three minutes, 12 minutes, 20 minutes, I think that’s part of the role that we serve, and so I would be absolutely amenable to opening public comments at the beginning.”

Both periods of public comment will now be open to any citizen concerns, though still restricted to three minutes. Marl stated the new public comment policy would begin at the March 16 meeting.