By SHAYLA ESCUDERO/Lincoln Chronicle
Lincoln County Commissioners are considering restricting public comment after a recent clash with county employees who aired their grievances at public meetings.
Commissioners will discuss changing the public comment format to relate only to agenda topics at their Wednesday, May 21 meeting.
“I’d like us to seriously consider doing what a lot of cities and counties have done in recent months and limit public comment subject matter to being directly related to items on the agenda for that day,” commission chair Claire Hall said at their May 7 meeting.
Commissioner Walter Chuck said he would be in favor of the change but would like to make sure the public knows there are other ways to contact commissioners such as by phone, email, or face-to-face meetings.
Commissioner Casey Miller – who has often been at odds with Hall since last fall – said he found himself “leaning in the other direction” and would like to see the discussion on a scheduled agenda.
The move to limit public comment comes after a months-long clashes between Hall, district attorney Jenna Wallace and county counsel Kristin Yuille.
Over the course of several public meetings in February and April, Wallace used the comment period to accuse the county of misconduct, retaliation and corruption involving long-running disputes on personnel actions in her office. Hall has denied the claims and said the county has contacted the Oregon Department of Justice to report Wallace’s behavior.
Limiting the public comment period was prompted by the comments made by Wallace and other staff members, Hall told Lincoln Chronicle this week. Public comment is meant for the public to bring their issues in front of the board, she said, not for employees to air their grievances about others.
As it stands, the public comment rules require speakers to sign their name and address before speaking for the allotted three minutes. Content is only restricted if it contains obscenity, defamation, or slander.
Other local governing bodies such as the Newport city council and Lincoln County School District board have an allotted comment period for both topics on and off the agenda.
Stay on topic
Under the proposed process, Hall said people who would like to make a public comment would likely have to sign up with their name, contact information and the topic they would like to discuss. By changing the format, Hall hopes the meetings will go back to what she believes is the original intention of public comment.
Although public comment would be limited, there would be other ways to access commissioners, she said. While Hall said employee complaints made during the public comment period were targeting her and she certainly didn’t like it, she understood that as an elected official she would have to tolerate negative comments.
“But when you start to target other employees who don’t have the platform, I have a problem with that,” Hall said.
But, to some the move feels like a threat to public speech.
“I take it as an infringement on my right to address my elected officials that I pay my tax dollars into,” said Cynthia George of Siletz, a regular meeting visitor who came May 7 to voice concerns about clear cutting along a creek and environmental issues. “It’s about as crooked as that picture on the wall.”
A county employee also voiced their disapproval in an email shortly after the May 7 meeting.
“One of the most important roles of local government is to remain accessible and responsive to the people it serves,” wrote Asia Richardson, a public information officer in the Health & Human Services department. “Restricting public comment in this way would limit community members’ ability to raise urgent issues, share ideas, or bring attention to matters that may not yet be reflected on the agenda but are deeply relevant to the public.”
Last month, commissioners abruptly adjourned a public meeting after a topic raised by a county employee spoke of collective bargaining agreements, which are discouraged from being mentioned in public. After leaders left the room, Miller stayed to listen to their grievances and a long statement from Wallace.
After that meeting, both the employees and Miller expressed frustration with communication.
Miller felt someone should have stayed behind to explain why the meeting was closed and is in favor of resolving issues openly, he told Lincoln Chronicle this week.
Changing public comment would have large impacts on the community, he said. So, he advocated for putting the topic on next week’s agenda to give the public notice.
“Putting restrictions on public dialogue is not healthy and doesn’t serve a greater purpose,” Miller said.
While he was open to hearing the argument on why public comment should be changed, Miller felt that it should be open to all topics because you never know when the community might need to raise an issue.
- Shayla Escudero covers Lincoln County government, education, Newport, housing and social services for Lincoln Chronicle and can be reached at Shayla@LincolnChronicle.org
Comment Policy