Munster residents wishing to speak their minds during town meetings will continue to have 20 minutes a meeting in which to do so, but the town will be more thorough in relaying comment-period parameters, according to a new resolution.
The way the Munster Town Council handles its public comments — limiting it to 20 minutes, asking residents to be respectful and not repeating points as much as possible, for example — falls in line with the Indiana law that went into effect July 1, Town Attorney Dave Westland said during the July 1 council meeting. Westland said that before July 1, public comment wasn’t a right a municipal body was obligated to give but that most do out of common practice.
The new law the General Assembly passed, then, gives guidance to how municipalities can conduct their public comment if they choose, he said. But along with reading the policy out loud before each meeting like Council President Dave Nellans, R-4, does, the policy will need to be posted along with the meeting agenda outside the meeting room.
Residents wanting to speak will also be required to write their names and addresses on a list so that not only will Clerk-Treasurer Wendy Mis will have a record for her transcripts, but it could conceivably give the speakers a bit more time during their two minutes to speak without worrying about giving their name and address, he said.
Councilman Chuck Gardiner, R-3, said he’s concerned that if there are a lot of people who wish to comment on an issue or issues, allowing only 20 minutes for comment will mean some people won’t get to speak.
“I think we need to have some sort of acknowledgment that if we were to have, say, 30 people wishing to speak, not all of them will get to,” Gardiner said. “Thirty is an exaggeration, but let’s say there are 12 people — maybe we say, ‘Everyone gets 1:45 today.’
“I’d like to have the discretion to have additional input; I really don’t like closing down public comment.”
“Councilor, why wasn’t this brought up at the meeting last week? We were all fine with (the resolution),” Councilman George Shinkan, R-1, said.
“I think the policy is really good, and I’m not saying anything’s wrong,” Gardiner said. “I’m saying that if we have people sign in with their name, address and topic, the president or council can look at that and determine if we have a fair representation. If there’s 12 people, we don’t care what they talk about, but if there’s 20 people, we can have four on this topic, four on that topic and the one person who has a different topic altogether won’t have to be the last person to speak.”
Westland then said “98%” of what Gardiner said was a policy call, but if they were to implement having people put down their topics, the council could put itself in the position of “picking and choosing what topics people can discuss,” and that could become a First Amendment issue.
“I wouldn’t advise people putting down their topics,” he said.
The council approved the resolution 5-0.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
