There is turmoil in the courthouse. Last week Commissioner Mark Peterson limited public comment during commission meetings to only at the beginning on the meeting. Once the commissioners begin their discussion on agenda items, no public comment would be allowed.
At this week’s Commissioner meeting Commissioner Sheri Williams spoke on the change. She said that many Hill County residents have expressed to her frustration and opposition regarding the change. She said the people who reached out to her feel they are being suppressed and that their free speech is being limited.
She said, “the very purpose of our public meeting is to invite the public comment.” She added, “the decisions that the commission makes affects the very people that elected us, and I think that’s been forgotten here.” She proposed to go back to the previous way of conducting the meetings.
Mark Peterson clarified his position he said, “what I stated was when we get down to making the final vote, unless we call on somebody in the room to answer a question for us, they are not able to speak.”
Sheri Williams replied, “so you’re deciding that you will pick and choose who you want to speak for discussions.” Mark then stated that they are offered to speak at the very beginning of the meeting. He said, “it’s the interpretation that people are having right now that they can’t participate down here, well they can at the very top. They can ask questions about anything that is on the agenda.”
Mark Peterson said that had Sheri been there at eight AM before last week’s meeting then she could have been a part of the discussion regarding the change to public comment. Sheri replied, “so it’s my understanding that this was discussed just a couple hours prior to the meeting that day.” Mark agreed.
Sheri then highlighted the issue of the lack of clarity on commissioner agenda items, but Mark said that anyone can call and ask questions. He said, “the only thing is we’re trying to run the meeting in an orderly fashion at the end so we can have our discussion and take votes.” Sheri believed it could still be orderly even with public comment, and she suggested a time limit for discussion.
Mark then moved on to ask if there were any other comments on non-agenda items. “So, we’re not going to go back to the previous way,” Sheri asked? “It’s not on the agenda to change it today,” Mark replied. Sheri then said it wasn’t on the agenda last week either.
Mark again moved on to ask if there were any further public comments on non-agenda items. There were no more comments, so for now the meetings will continue to only allow for public comment at the beginning.
