At the last “special commission meeting” (one held between regular monthly meetings), on July 29, 2009, several residents were present and wished to speak on commission plans to approve an RFP to go out in newspapers as the ad for our new Village Manager.

Commissioner Mallette led the discussion and vote against Commissioner Bernard’s motion that citizens who were present should be allowed to speak. Commissioner Mallette said that it should be up to the Mayor to allow or not allow public participation. It followed that the vote was 4-1 to empower the Mayor to arbitrarily decide whether two professionals in the audience should be able to comment and provide advice.

After the vote, those present were not allowed to speak until after the vote on the RFP, and, in fact, not until after the meeting had officially ended.
This appears to be in opposition to the intent of the Citizen’s Bill of Rights in our Village Charter. The Village Attorney, whose employment is at the will of the Commission, sided with the 4 who voted to limit public input.

Below is an excerpt from our Charter to see whether you think the commission acted in violation of the principle. You might note that the arguable point is that the Commission only appears to have the right to limit comment to the extent that orderly business is maintained (for example, only allowing citizens to speak at a specific point on the agenda marked “citizen comments on agenda items”; or limiting speech to 2 minutes per person, etc.). But it clearly appears that citizen’s have to right to address our governing bodies. And it is clearly a “Right”…not an arbitrary and occasional benefit.

From the BP Citizen’s Bill of Rights in our Charter:

A (5) Right to be Heard. So far as the orderly conduct of public business permits, any interested person has the right to appear before the Commission or agency, board, committee, authority or department for the presentation, adjustment or determination of an issue, request, or controversy within the jurisdiction of the Village. Matters shall be scheduled for the convenience of the public. The Commission shall adopt agenda procedures and schedule hearings in a manner that will enhance the opportunity for public participation. Nothing herein shall prohibit any governmental entity or agency from imposing reasonable time limits and procedures for the presentation of a matter.

This editorial board recommends that, in the future, all agendas posted for every commission, board and committee meeting allow a place and time in the agenda for public comment to occur before any discussion or votes. This would let the public know about their rights, promote knowledge of our Charter, encourage public contribution and expertise, and at the same time assure that the orderly conduct of business is upheld.

Send us an email on what you think.

–The Editors