City Council tightening rules for citizens’ comments

By Bobby Bryant, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net

Citizens who want to speak before Darlington City Council would have to sign up six days beforehand, tell a city official what they want to discuss, limit their remarks to three minutes and make “no personal attacks” on council members, under a plan that won initial approval Feb. 12.

The ordinance, championed by Mayor Gloria Hines as a necessary way to limit damaging and divisive comments during the “public comment” portion of council meetings, would significantly tighten council’s rules on “Citizens Wishing to Speak Before Council,” as it’s listed on the agendas.

“I have noticed for the past year that several comments that have been made by citizens and others have become personal and very offensive,” Hines told council. “ … These comments have gotten out of hand and must cease at once if we are to move Darlington forward.”

“We, as a community, must lay aside our personal differences,” Hines said. “ … I am asking each of you to let us come together and move our community forward.”

The ordinance needs one more vote of approval by council before it can take effect. That second and final vote is expected at council’s next regular session March 5.

Under the new ordinance, these changes would take place:

— Citizens wanting to speak before council would have to meet with City Manager Howard Garland six days in advance of the regular monthly council meeting and tell him what they want to discuss. (The ordinance apparently would not let citizens call or e-mail Garland – it says “meet with.”) Up until now, citizens could sign up to speak immediately before a council session.

Asked if this new plan would put Garland in a position of having to reject citizens who wanted to talk about something deemed inappropriate under the new rules, Garland said that would be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

— Citizens speaking to council would be limited to three minutes. Up until now, they got five minutes, and some recent speakers have gone far past the five-minute rule.

— “No personal attacks on (the) mayor, council members or staff will be allowed,” the ordinance says. (Last month, a
Lowcountry political consultant used his speaking time before council to again accuse African-American councilwoman Carolyn Bruce of “selling out” fellow black voters on an issue involving the city’s hiring an engineering firm. The new plan apparently would block comments like this.)

Councilman Bryant Gardner said he was concerned that, if people must sign up to speak six days in advance, a full agenda for the next council meeting might not be ready. Other council members countered that citizens almost always want to speak about their personal concerns, not an item on the agenda.

Also, the original version of the ordinance called for a two-minute limit on letting people address council, and Gardner balked at that.

“Two minutes is a little short,” Gardner said. After some discussion, council agreed to make it three minutes.
Hines made the motion to approve the new ordinance on first reading. Councilwoman Sheila Baccus seconded the motion, and it passed.

Other local councils use varying rules on allowing citizens to speak.

Darlington County Council, for instance, lets citizens sign up before a council meeting to speak for two minutes, or they can file a written request for a 10-minute “personal appearance.” This should “specifically identify the subject to be addressed,” says the council’s website. The website also warns against comments naming any citizen, council member or employee.

Hartsville City Council does not have a “public comments” segment as such, officials said, but citizens can ask to be added to the agenda to discuss concerns.

City and county councils across the state have wide latitude in setting rules for how citizens can address council, said Scott Slatton, legislative and public policy advocate for the Columbia-based Municipal Association of South Carolina. It’s typical for most councils to have a clause banning personal attacks on council members or city/county employees, Slatton said.

State law does not force local councils to allow public comment during council meetings, he said, except for statutorily required public hearings before budget votes and similar issues. No matter what rules any council has for letting citizens speak during meetings, Slatton said, people should remember that there are other ways to make their voices heard, such as calling or e-mailing council members.

In other Darlington City Council business Feb. 12:

— After a half-hour executive session, council voted to sell a total of 22 acres of city-owned property for a total of $187,000 to an undisclosed buyer for undisclosed purposes. The council’s agenda refers to this as an “economic development” deal code-named “Project Peach.” No further information on the project was available. Three separate tracts of land were sold as part of the deal, city officials said. One is a 13-acre tract between Old Florence Road and Friendship Street; one is a 4-acre tract between D Avenue and 6th Street; and one is a 5-acre tract at 323 Old Florence Road. Two are farm land; one is a softball field.

— Council gave city Fire Chief Pat Cavanaugh permission to continue researching a “cost recovery” plan. The plan would hold at-fault drivers and their insurance companies, not the fire department, responsible for costs incurred in responding to a vehicle accident. The plan would let the fire department seek reimbursement as well for the costs it incurs in responding to hazardous-materials and commercial fire incidents.

— Charles MacNeil, executive director of the Pee Dee Regional Transportation Authority, told council that a pilot program to test the concept of Saturday bus service was having success in attracting bus riders. He said the PDRTA was averaging 19 trips each Saturday. MacNeil also said that overall ridership for the bus system was up about 25 percent: “It’s going gangbusters.”

Author: Stephan Drew

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