DAVENPORT, Iowa — While many Quad Citizens spent Valentine's Day with their loved ones, members of the Davenport community gathered for the final city council meeting before changing public comment rules.
There are three major changes to the rules:
- Public comment time per person reduced from five minutes to three minutes.
- No general public comment at Committee of the Whole meetings. (People can still speak on individual agenda items.)
- Public comment audio in livestreams and video recordings of council meetings will be muted.
At the meeting on Wednesday night, Cheryl Shagena spoke in public comment about the building collapse on Main Street. In her search for answers, the changes to public comment are worrying.
"It is putting the lid on the freedom of speech regarding open conversation with not our own alderperson, but all the alderpeople, the alderpeople at large, and the mayor," Shagena said.
Another person not happy with the change: Judith Lee, who formerly represented the 8th ward. "Council, mayor and staff need to remember who they all work for, and why you all have a job in the first place," she said.
"An already traumatized public is re-victimized over and over, and repeating this decision to suppress and restrict public comment further contributes to the appearance of lack of transparency, accountability and caring," Lee said.
News 8 compared Davenport's new rules to other hometowns in the Quad Cities area. Many of them have just 3 minutes for public comment, like Galesburg and Geneseo. However, News 8 could not find a hometown that removes public comment audio from online videos.
Davenport's new rules will take effect at the Committee of the Whole meeting on Feb. 21.
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