Board member reaction to non-member public comments

[Guest David Young]

Is there a proper reaction or response of board members toward individuals that speak during public comment?

Is it proper to applaud?  To say nothing?  To act not interested?

[Gary Novosielski]

I can't see why you would think acting not interested would be appropriate.  I'm not saying that you should feign interest, but you might at least pay attention.  Beyond that, a lot depends on what they say.

It's not necessary to respond to every comment, but the chair at least should thank the person for the comment.  As to the rest of the board, I think responding honestly would be nice.  If you're going to respond, make sure you have something to say and your facts straight.  If the speaker raises questions that require information that's not readily at hand, promise to look into it and get back to them.  Then, keep that promise.

[Joshua Katz]

On 4/1/2023 at 5:33 PM, Gary Novosielski said:

I can't see why you would think acting not interested would be appropriate.  I'm not saying that you should feign interest, but you might at least pay attention.  Beyond that, a lot depends on what they say.

 

I assume OP means something like disinterested, rather than something like bored. On that assumption, I'll add that I don't think board members need to pretend not to hold an opinion on the matter, and so should not worry if their facial expressions give away how they feel about the comments, other than, of course, not being offensive or rude.

[Richard Brown]

This is something not addressed by RONR.