Policies for Addressing the City Council
Although there is no legal requirement for allowing citizens to address the Council, the City's policy has always been to make meetings and business as interactive with the public as possible. The intent of establishing written procedures was to keep meetings orderly and consistent. There are two different procedures for addressing city council at their meetings depending whether it is a topic already on the agenda or not.
The first has to do with a topic that is not already on the agenda but still relates to city business and is not repetitive. An example would be if a citizen wants to speak to the council about a concern such as flooding in an area of town. In this case, the citizen should contact the City Clerk and request that they be put on the agenda as a guest speaker by 12:00 noon on the Wednesday prior to the council meeting. Council meetings are generally every third Monday but this is changed occasionally because of scheduling problems.
The second method is even easier and has to do with items already published on the agenda. There is no prior notice that has to be given, although it is a good idea to let the Mayor or City Clerk know before the meeting to avoid inadvertently missing a raised hand, etc.
In both cases, citizens are given five minutes and are expected to be respectful and not repetitive. Of course, the Mayor retains the right to allow more time for speakers depending on the issue or limit the number of citizens speaking on a single topic. Detailed rules for both are posted on the website at the address above.
If you would like to address the Council on a topic that is not on the agenda, please read Ordinance 3967 and fill out the Request to Speak form located under the ordinance.
If you would like to address the Council pertaining to a topic that is already on the agenda, please read Ordinance 4087 for the proper rules and regulations.