Council Will Hear Public Comments at Regular Start-of-Meeting Time Tonight

Monday night’s City Council meeting will not be the first conducted with public comments on unagendized topics at the end of the meeting, after all.

Mayor Gordo has delayed implementing the scheduling change for one week. It had been expected to take effect Monday.

On March 21, Gordo first announced that the 20-minute public comment period on matters not on the meeting’s agenda would be moved to the end of Council meetings going forward and not remain in its longstanding top of meeting slot, beginning April 4.

Councilmember John Kennedy responded by saying he had not been informed of the change before the Mayor announced it and that he opposed it.

Given the length of many Council meetings, Kennedy said, parents, the elderly, and people who have to get to work or class early the next morning might have to wait up to five or more hours to provide their 90-second comment to the City Council.

“I don’t see how that is good government and that is my comment on that issue,” Kennedy said.

A number of observers later opposed the plan, calling it a way to limit freedom of speech and suppress criticism.

“This is an attack on the free speech rights of Pasadenans to not allow the voice of the public to start the meetings,” wrote Julieta Aragon. “First, by moving general public comment to the end limits the ability for working-class residents to participate. Many residents will find it difficult to wait until 9 p.m. or later to get to this agenda item and speak. Additionally, by making this abrupt change the council is sending a clear signal that the recent uptick in public comments about police violence in this city are not welcome in the council chambers”

Monday night’s agenda contains a document detailing information developed by a three-person City Council Ad Hoc Committee formed to discuss and analyze City Council procedural issues and rules related to meetings. The Committee was comprised of Councilmember Madison, Councilmember Williams, and Mayor Gordo.

The committee will report that Glendale and Santa Monica Councils and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors take public comment on matters not on the agenda after consideration of all agendized items.

The committee also reasoned that “public matters on the Council’s agenda should be the focus of Council meetings, and should therefore occur prior to public comment on matters not on the agenda.”

“By shifting matters noticed and agendized for Council action to occur first, it was the committee’s intention to ensure the timely consideration of agendized items and provide members of the public with the opportunity to give public  comment  prior  to action  by  the City  Council.”

The information-only report said that decisions on agendized items are the final action of the City and often the taken actions constitute the public’s last opportunity to support or oppose an action under Council consideration and should therefore be unfettered and prioritized.

Finally, the committee said it just makes sense for public comments on unagendized topics to be conducted last because those comments have close ties to City Council requests that occur at the end of the agenda for future agenda items. Often, comments on matters not on the agenda prompt members of the City Council to briefly ask questions and request more information from staff or for a future discussion on the topic, the report said.

In this way, these two related aspects of the meeting regarding brief comments on matters not on the agenda will now occur at the same point in the meeting.