Cobb County is considering a move that would cut the amount of time residents can speak at meetings in half and only allow comments after commissioners have voted.
A dozen residents opposed to the idea spoke out during the board’s meeting Tuesday.
“Why do you want to limit the time? What is coming down the pipe that you want to silence us,“ said Salleigh Grubbs, chairwoman of the Cobb County Republican Party. “This is Cobb County; this is not Cuba. If you feel the need to limit our time, you limit your time. Our time is valuable too.”
The county currently allows up to 12 speakers to address the board of commissioners during two public comment sections at each meeting. One of the time slots comes at the beginning of meeting before the commission takes any votes. The second segment is toward the end of meetings just after all matters have been voted upon.
Up to six people can speak during both public comment sections, and all speakers are allotted up to five minutes apiece.
A resolution included on Tuesday’s agenda would’ve changed the rules of procedure for public meetings, limiting public comment to the time slot at the end of each meeting after the board votes.
According to the proposed resolution, a total of 10 people would be allowed to speak and their time would be capped at three minutes apiece.
Commissioners tabled their vote on the resolution, but it will likely to return on a future agenda. Chairwoman Lisa Cupid said commissioners have been discussing the resolution since January and are still fine tuning it.
“Unfortunately, there’s no good time to bring this matter forward. It’s going to spark some ire whenever there is change,” she said. “But I want you to know the commissioners are certainly listening to you. We are trying to better streamline this process and there still is some further discussion we would like to have before we vote on this.”
Residents angrily pointed out that the proposal would effectively cut their time to address board members from an hour each meeting to 30 minutes. Others said they wouldn’t be able to voice their concerns until after commissioners had already voted on important issues, rendering public comments virtually pointless.
Several who spoke out Tuesday described it as an encroachment on free speech and chided board members for presenting the resolution.
Ben Williams, president of the Cobb County chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, told commissioners they would be suppressing the public’s voice.
“A number of people come to these meetings to ensure that they are heard because they are not clear if that is the case when they make phone calls and/or write letters,” he said. “It’s in this public space, in this forum, that gives them assurance that at least they’ve been heard.”
One resident who identified himself as Gill Wright said the change of policy felt like a “heavy-handed dictatorship” and asked commissioners to reconsider.
“This is the one (place) where we citizens can look all five of you in the eye and tell you what we think, give you feedback and advocate against what we feel like are bad policies.”
No date was set for the measure to be reintroduced.
