Here’s a look at the three options in the proposal:
Option 1: Total time for public comment would be 15 minutes, giving five residents three minutes each. People would not have to sign up beforehand.
• Option 2: A 30-minute public comment period where speakers would sign up with the county clerk before meetings, giving each speaker up to five minutes.
• Option 3: Public comments would be held 15 minutes before meetings start, limited to five speakers who have to sign up beforehand.
A controversial proposal to severely curtail public comments at Henry County Board of Commission meetings is expected to be scrapped, the board’s chairman said Monday.
Commission Chairman Tommy Smith told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he will ask that the proposal be taken from Tuesday night’s commission agenda.
“It’s going to be removed,” Smith said.
The proposal grew out of a heated exchange one commissioner had with a resident during the last commission meeting earlier this month, Smith said.
Currently, residents who sign up a week before commission meetings are allowed up to 15 minutes on the agenda. Those who sign up the night of the meeting are given up to five minutes to speak.
The proposal, which had three options, called for ending the 15-minute portion completely and possibly moving the other public comment to another room where it would not be televised.
The idea of curtailing public comment drew ire from some residents like Barbara Torbett who believes removing the item is “a stall tactic” and an effort to quell her planned demonstration about the matter. Torbett still plans to demonstrate.
“I believe the issue will resurface again. There’s no guarantee it won’t,” said Torbett who lives near Stockbridge. “They had already placed it on the agenda. They had already drafted a resolution. They already had three plans to change and diminish the free speech public comment section. They had already planned to move it into another room away from the TV. Why would they remove it at the last minute?”
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