Striking a Balance: Public Comments & Assembly Debate

Every decision the Assembly makes should be informed. Borough staff and Assembly members themselves attempt to provide information pertinent to each decision. Members in the community are also welcome to inform the Assembly. When information is submitted to the Clerk, according to the published schedule, that information is included in the "meeting packet." The packet is then made available to everyone, members of the Assembly and the public alike, through the Borough website. Check out the meeting packet for the November 29 meeting here. Careful. It's 185 pages long!

Another way to inform the Assembly is to rise and speak in public. There are public comment periods at two places in every regular meeting agenda; as well as extra opportunities prior to Assembly decisions regarding ordinances. There is one public comment period on the agenda for the special meeting November 29. And that brings me to the core of my topic: striking a balance between public comments and internal Assembly debate.

When many people wish to rise to inform the Assembly during a meeting, time limits have to be imposed, for one simple reason: the Assembly itself also needs quality time to make a decision. The only place the Assembly can make a decision is in public. The only place and time Assembly members can confer with one another - persuade, and be persuaded by one another - is during a properly noticed public meeting.

I agree that time limits, especially when making an effort to communicate, can feel arbitrary; dismissive even. I don't like them, but one part of my job is to facilitate Assembly decision making; and one way to do that is to protect the time the Assembly needs for its deliberations. So the time limits I impose (or not) November 29 will depend on the number of people in the audience who wish to speak. My motivation for doing that is to divide a 2-3 hour block fairly between the information the audience wishes to convey and the need for the Assembly to consult with itself and arrive at a position. I hope to strike an acceptable balance. Please let me know how I do.