1/19/2015
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By Rachel Martin | Watchdog.org
PITTSBURGH — The Crawford County Board of Commissioners is looking at ways to restrict public participation at public meetings.
A new policy being considered by commissioners would require advance notice for public comments and would ban people for 30 days for “improper conduct.” Commissioners say they want to improve efficiency at meetings, and the new policy cites the need to conduct meetings in an orderly manner, but legal and policy experts question whether these changes best serve the public, or are even legal.
“Orderly is nice, but democracy tends not to be,” Barry Kauffman, executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, a government accountability group, told Watchdog.
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ALL COMMENTS WELCOME? One county board of commissioners is looking to narrow its public participation policy in a few ways.
County Administrator Mark Lessig provided Watchdog a copy of the proposed policy, which Commissioner Francis Weiderspahn said they planned to post after discussion at their regular meeting Thursday.
The county commission’s current policy is available on the county website.
While the draft policy affects both work sessions and its more formal regular meetings, the latter would be more restricted. Those wishing to speak at the meeting would be required to give two business days’ advance notice and would be limited to three minutes for their comments.
Individuals who do not follow those rules can be blocked from making public comments for 30 days.
“It’s mixed feelings with me,” Commissioner C. Sherman Allen was quoted in the Meadville Tribune. “There are three pages of how to address us. A person would have to have an attorney with them to know what to do.”
While the policy says people who want to be on the agenda must give the chief clerk at least two days’ notice, it’s not clear that all speakers must give notice. However, Lessig told Watchdog, “The intent is to say, if you want to speak, you must be on the agenda.”
“Local agencies need to encourage public participation, and this policy does the opposite,” said Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel for Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association.
All three components of the new rules could be problematic, she said.
Requiring two days notice for public comments “creates Sunshine Act issues because it creates an unnecessary administrative barrier and could discourage public participation,” Melewsky said. “It would preclude public comment on new business brought up during a meeting or after the two-day registration window has expired.”
Under both the current and proposed policy, people can speak at the beginning of the meeting for three minutes apiece. But there is also currently a “general public comment” period near the end of meetings: the new policy eliminates that.
Melewsky said many agencies do not limit comments to the beginning of a meeting, “since there will often be new business addressed during the meeting, and after the designated public comment section, which the public is entitled to comment on.”
The 30-day ban for “improper conduct” is a problem, Melewsky said, because “there is no objective standard or right to challenge equally enshrined in the policy. The determination to punish and forbid speech in this policy is completely subjective.”
When asked about these concerns, Lessig said, “That’s why it’s a draft.” He said he and the commissioners want to solicit feedback.
Weiderspahn said the earliest the commission would vote on the policy would be March 5, the next voting meeting after 45 days of public display and chance for comment had elapsed.
Meeting agendas do not seem to be on the county website. While there’s a link for them, there’s no content, just the message they’re “Coming Soon.” There are also no entries in the county’s master calendar, including impending meetings.
“The public comment sessions must not be dog-and-pony shows, where a decision has already been made,” Kauffman said. “It has to have a genuine ability to inform and persuade decision-makers.”
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