Attachment 3Comments from Lee Quintana Agenda Order 1 ofr
a.
To: Policy Committee
From: Lee Quintana
Re: Verbal Communications Agenda Order
SUMMARY:
On June 6, 2017, the Council referred consideration of moving Verbal Communications
to the end of the Town Council Agenda to the Policy Committee
Considering the Town Council's current Policy 2-0, and the review of agendas of 25
other cities my thoughts are:
• Current Council Policy allows sufficient flexibility for the Mayor to adjust the agenda
order and speaker time to be able to provide sufficient time for public hearings.
• Maintaining the current agenda provides better transparency.
• The majority of cities place public communication early on the agenda
Town's Current Policy.
• Policy 2-01 A. Order of the Agenda provides the Mayor with the discretion to change
the order of any agenda item.
• Policy 2-01 C.1 Communications by Members of the Public states that comments
under Verbal Communication shall be limited to no more than three(3) minutes per
speaker,
• Policy 20-01 C.4 Communication by Members of the Public states "All time limits
noted above shall be subject to the Mayor's discretion."
Agenda Review of Other Cities.
Campbell, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Menlo Park, Milpitas, Mountain View, Monte
Sereno, Palo Alto, San Jose, Gilroy, Morgan Hill, Hollister, Saratoga, Sunnyvale,
Santa Cruz, Watsonville, Berkeley, Moro Bay, San Luis Obispo, San Rafael, Santa
Rosa, Monterey Park, Hollister, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
• Nineteen cities place public communication before the Consent Calendar,
• Five cities place public communications at the end or towards the end of the agenda,
• Two cities place a two minute limit on speakers (Mountain View and Santa Cruz)
• Three cities limit the time for public comments (15 or 30 minutes) (Sunnyvale, Hollister
and San Luis Obispo).
• One limits the number of speakers (Santa Rosa)
The following cities place public communications on the agenda near the
beginning of the agenda before the Consent Agenda.
Campbell, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Menlo Park, Milpitas, Monte Sereno, Palo Alto,
Gilroy, Morgan Hill, Saratoga, Sunnyvale*, Hollister*, Watsonville,
ATTACHMENT 3
Comments from Lee Quintana Agenda Order 2 of 3'
Moro Bay*, San Luis Obispo*, San Rafael, Santa Rosa*, Monterey Park
• Sunnyvale: Limits the public comments to 15 minutes, but at the discretion of the
Mayor it may be extended or continued to after the public hearings/general business
section of the agenda.
• Hollister: Limits public comments to 30 minutes.
• Moro Bay: The pubic may also speak to an agenda item during public communications
but, cannot speak again during the hearing on that agenda item.
• San Luis Obispo: Public communication is limited to a total of 15 minutes
• Santa Rosa: Public communication is taken following consent calendar and again after
public hearings agenda. Public comments following the Consent Calendar are limited
to 10 speakers, chosen at random by the mayor, the rest are heard after the public
hearings.
• Monterey Park: The public may speak to a specific agenda item during public
communications, but then may not speak again during the hearing on that agenda
item.
Public Communications later in meeting: (5)
• San Jose: Last item on agenda.
• Berkeley. At end of Agenda. I
• Mountain View: Between Public Hearings and New Business. If more than 15
speakers time may be reduced to 2 minutes/speaker.
• Santa Cruz: Council Meeting starts at 2:30. Public Comments are heard before
Consent Agenda, but not earlier than 5:00 p.m. Public comments are limited to 2
minutes each with a total limit of 30 minutes
• Santa Rosa: Public communication is taken both following consent items and again
after all public hearings. Public comments following the Consent Calendar are limited
to 10 speakers, chosen at random by the mayor.
Other: (2) San Francisco Supervisors and Los Angeles Council: I was not able to find a
public communication item on their agenda.