When county commissioners meet with senior staff, Commissioner Marc Boldt typically has the fewest things to say. When asked for his opinion, he gives a brief reply.
He wishes other people would speak as succinctly.
Boldt suggested last week, and the other two commissioners agreed, to put a time limit on public speakers at the board’s weekly meetings.
The breaking point has been that, week after week, the same few people show up to talk about the same issues (illegal immigration, the Columbia River Crossing and a proposed sports complex in Hazel Dell are contentious topics of late).
At Tuesday’s meeting, the open public comment portion, where people talk about anything they want, ran more than 45 minutes, with one regular speaker going on for nearly 20 minutes before Commissioner Steve Stuart, who, as chairman, runs the meetings, told him to wind it up.
The long public comment session left audience members waiting to testify on matters scheduled for public hearings.
Boldt said speakers should be able to make their point in three minutes.
Stuart and Tom Mielke agreed the situation was out of control. At a meeting this year, a few speakers caused the open public comments to run nearly an hour.
“Can we set that timer to more than three minutes?” Mielke asked.
“We can do anything we want,” Boldt said.
Mielke suggested five minutes. Stuart looked at Boldt.
“You know me, I’m a three-minute guy,” Boldt said. Boldt chairs C-Tran’s board of directors, which has a three-minute rule. The Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council, which Stuart chaired last year, has a three-minute rule, too.
The verdict? All public speakers will be limited to five minutes. On busy days, the limit will be three minutes.
If speakers don’t feel that’s adequate, they can leave additional material for commissioners to review or schedule a meeting with a commissioner.
Last month, commissioners improved the flow of meetings by moving the consent agenda (in which routine items are quickly approved) ahead of the open public comment period. That freed staff members, who have to stay until after the consent agenda in the event they may be needed to answer a question, from sitting through the open public comment period.
The Vancouver City Council made a similar change this year, moving the public comment period from near the beginning to near the end of the meeting. However, new Mayor Tim Leavitt rescinded his predecessor’s rule on limiting speakers to three minutes each.
Stephanie Rice: 360-735-4508 or stephanie.rice@columbian.com.
