Public Comment Protocol Limits Participation, Councilmember Agran Contends
At Irvine’s last City Council meeting, Councilmember Agran was the sole “no” vote on a proposal to substantially revamp public comment protocols and Council procedures. Some of these changes begin to take effect as early as the next City Council meeting on April 12th.
Councilmember Agran argued many of these proposals would inhibit public participation. He said,
“I think we still have a chance at the local level to capture the spirit of town hall participation…I think we’re making a big mistake [tonight] approving these changes.”
Among the changes, the City Council voted to approve the following:
Public comments per speaker will be limited by the number of speakers per agenda item and could be as little as 90 seconds
City Councilmembers will only have 3 minutes to provide announcements and reports. The Mayor will have additional time.
City Councilmembers will have a maximum of five minutes to discuss an agenda item before the next Councilmember has their turn.
Listen to Councilmember Agran address how the item contravenes the spirit and intent of local democracy:
“It’s very difficult to come up and give public testimony; it takes real courage. If you asked 90% of people, they would never do that…so I don’t want them to be frightened.”