News

Aug 22, 2023

Longmont, Boulder differ on regulating public comment

The topics that come up during “First Call — Public Invited to be Heard” at Longmont City Council meetings can be as unpredictable as Colorado’s weather. After all, anyone can speak about almost any

The topics that come up during “First Call — Public Invited to be Heard” at Longmont City Council meetings can be as unpredictable as Colorado’s weather.

After all, anyone can speak about almost any subject matter they want to for three minutes or less.

Sometimes, speakers talk about local issues such as crime, traffic, homelessness, growth, housing or even the need for more pickleball courts and buffets in Longmont.

One individual who signed up to speak during a study session on July 18 did so to mainly inform the council that it was “National Sour Candy Day and National Tropical Fruit Day.”

This past Tuesday, a public commenter asked the council to pass an ordinance to “ban the sale of puppies and kittens in pet stores in Longmont” over concerns about puppy mills.

The Longmont City Council, which typically meets at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays, has heard it all.

So much so that the council recently voted, on first reading, to change its rules of procedure so that only Longmont residents and members of city staff can speak during First Call — Public Invited to be Heard.

Everyone else must wait until “Final Call — Public Invited to be Heard,” which often does not occur until after 9 or 10 p.m., if not later.

Longmont Mayor Joan Peck, who originally proposed the change to the council’s rules of procedure, has pushed back at assertions that she trying to clamp down on free speech.

Peck has maintained that the council must handle city business during its regular meetings and that listening to extended public comment, especially from people who don’t live in Longmont, can make doing so a challenge.

In addition to speaking at council meetings, Peck pointed out how people can call, email or even request a meeting with councilmembers, too.

The city also hosts “Coffee with Council” once a month.

“It’s not like we’re not trying to reach out,” Peck said in an interview Friday. “It’s nothing about free speech. It’s about managing our business meeting.”

Firestone, which has a little under 20,000 residents, limits public comment during its Board of Trustees’ meetings to 30 minutes. Similar to Longmont, though, each person may speak for up to three minutes.

Up to 20 people can speak for up to two minutes during “Open Comment” at the Boulder City Council’s regular business meetings

“I think it works well in that it gives plenty of time for the public to speak — we don’t always get the full 20 speakers — while not unduly delaying the business meetings,” Boulder Mayor Aaron Brockett said in an email.

“In the past, before we had that rule, sometimes open comment would go on for 90 or 120 minutes and it would delay the official work of the council well into the night.”

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