Guest Denise Posted May 18, 2021 at 01:32 AM Report Share Posted May 18, 2021 at 01:32 AM In a local government for meetings of one of the municipality's commissions, the agenda lists the following: Compliance of OPMA Roll Call Approval of minutes; resolutions; ordinances Public Comment General business Adjournment My question is if a comment by a member of the public relates directly to the issue being Approved, how can the governing body consider that comment as they make their decisions if the public comment does not take place until after a vote is taken? Thank you for your help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua Katz Posted May 18, 2021 at 01:15 PM Report Share Posted May 18, 2021 at 01:15 PM Clearly, they can't. But they can move to amend the agenda to move public comment earlier, or they can move to suspend the rules and hear from a member of the public during debate on that item. They can also, if they find the public comment persuasive, move to reconsider the decision. Note that all of the above assumes the rules in RONR apply. But as a public body, they are almost certainly subject to laws that may make these harder to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Puzzling Posted May 18, 2021 at 01:16 PM Report Share Posted May 18, 2021 at 01:16 PM 11 hours ago, Guest Denise said: In a local government for meetings of one of the municipality's commissions, the agenda lists the following: Compliance of OPMA Roll Call Approval of minutes; resolutions; ordinances Public Comment General business Adjournment My question is if a comment by a member of the public relates directly to the issue being Approved, how can the governing body consider that comment as they make their decisions if the public comment does not take place until after a vote is taken? Thank you for your help. Not sure what OPMA means Then I think maybe Approval of minutes; resolutions; ordinances means Approval of the minutes Receiving of resolutions, and ordinances (of the city council or other higher authorities) This way it would make sense (although where is the approval of the agenda and so on?) The committee is probably more ruled by city ordinances than by RONR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Elsman Posted May 18, 2021 at 07:30 PM Report Share Posted May 18, 2021 at 07:30 PM 17 hours ago, Guest Denise said: if a comment by a member of the public relates directly to the issue being Approved, how can the governing body consider that comment as they make their decisions if the public comment does not take place until after a vote is taken? Obviously, it couldn't without suspending the rules. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted May 19, 2021 at 12:37 PM Report Share Posted May 19, 2021 at 12:37 PM OK, here’s my take, based on following lots of open meetings and open meetings laws of various states. First, 0PMA, in my opinion, probably stands for either Ohio, Oklahoma, or Oregon Public Meetings Act. Second, the public comment portion of the meeting is probably that portion of the meeting, usually at the end of the meeting, were members of the public can comment on various matters which may or may not have been on the agenda. That is when members of the public can raise issues of concern that were not on the agenda. Third, although this will vary from state to state, the public meetings law probably provides that Citizens may also comment on various ordinances and resolutions, particularly those ordinances which by law must be subject to a public hearing, at the time those matters are taken up on the agenda. I do not necessarily interpret the very brief statement by the OP. as meaning the only time Citizens ever get to speak is at the end of the meeting after business has been concluded. it will be helpful if Guest Denise will give us a little more information. I also imagine that if she looks further into the 0PMA, which is probably her state’s open meetings law, she may well find her answers there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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