DAVENPORT, Iowa — Starting Wednesday, Sept. 18, people will have more chances to speak at Davenport city council meetings. The decision comes after a discussion on public comment rules, which were changed by Mayor Mike Matson in early February.
First, speaking time was shortened from five minutes to three minutes. General public comment was also removed from Committee of the Whole meetings, and public comment audio was removed from livestreams and video recordings of meetings.
Alderman Ben Jobgen said during the Tuesday discussion that public comments were getting heated at the end of last year and the beginning of this year.
"We were getting recommendations that, 'Hey, you might be putting yourself in a position for a lawsuit because you’re publishing all this through the internet,'" Jobgen said.
But after seven months of these changes, some council members are raising questions about how they were made.
The rules governing how city council meetings operate haven't been formally changed since 2015. There was no formal change when Matson shortened public comment, either. Those rules say the mayor can modify public comment, and city council can overrule those changes.
"This was discussed, no it wasn’t voted on, but the legal opinion was at the time that our mayor had the right to do this, to make changes," Alderwoman Marion Meginnis said. "And as a council, we had the right to override it with a vote, and we didn’t choose, people didn’t choose to do that."
Alderwoman Jade Burkholder said she and several other council members tried to bring up their concerns about the public comment rules multiple times but were shot down.
"It is very frustrating," Burkholder said. "I’ve personally asked a couple of times, and other aldermen, women, have noticed that it’s just not going to be talked about at this time."
But at the Tuesday night discussion, the city's attorney Samuel Huff made his position clear.
"It's my advice that this resolution stands until someone brings forth something or amends it," Huff said.
Matson agreed. He said he'll form a committee to review the 2015 rules and either recreate them from scratch, or approve amendments. He told the council to expect calls as early as Wednesday.
He also restored general public comment to Committee of the Whole meetings. Burkholder said she's hopeful that the council will create rules that are easier to understand. She thinks her constituents will be glad to get more speaking time back, too.
"Even if it's not the five minutes until we have a committee and we as a council decide what's best, being able to hear from them every meeting still gives them that voice," Burkholder said.
In the other Quad Cities, public comment rules are slightly different. In Rock Island, speakers have five minutes. In Moline and East Moline, they have three minutes. Bettendorf gives the least time at two minutes, but does not require sign-up ahead of time. Davenport also does not require sign-up.
Matson said he's keeping the three minute time limit in place until the rules committee comes up with new rules. Those will have to be approved by city council before they take effect.