PORT ANGELES — Should Clallam County commissioners cut off public testimony when speakers exceed the allotted three minutes?
Board Chairman Jim McEntire believes so, but he failed Monday to gain the unanimous consent of his fellow commissioners to implement policy.
‘Orderly’ meetings
McEntire suggested in a work session that commissioners enforce an existing three-minute rule to ensure that public meetings and hearings are conducted in an “orderly fashion.”
Although commissioners’ agendas say the chair can limit public comments to three minutes, the board has a longstanding tradition of allowing citizens to talk for as long they want.
This has resulted in some lengthy hearings in which people have left the room before they had a chance to provide input.
“It’s gotten a little bit out of hand, I think, in terms of the length of some of these things, so I would like to start enforcing the three-minute rule,” McEntire said.
“But I want don’t want us to do that unilaterally. I want us to be in agreement.”
Commissioner Mike Chapman would not agree.
“The fundamental principal of our democracy is people’s right to protest their government,” Chapman said.
“Of course,” McEntire replied.
Chapman said he would be inclined to remove the three-minute reference from the agenda altogether.
“People have a right to come here and let us know how they think, whether it’s good, bad or indifferent,” Chapman said.
“I personally have been accused over the years of things that I don’t think were right, but it is part of the deal.”
The cities of Port Angeles, Sequim and Forks each have three-minute rules for public comments at City Council meetings.
Commissioners have two public comment periods in their regular business meetings at 10 a.m. every Tuesday.
“What I want to do is just make sure that people don’t have to leave because things have gone on too long,” McEntire said.
“I want to make sure that everybody has the opportunity to say their say. That’s all this is about.”
‘Good of the order’ talk
McEntire broached the subject in the “good of the order” discussion at the end of the work session.
“I can’t believe you even brought that up,” Chapman told McEntire.
“It’s shocking to me.”
Commissioner Bill Peach suggested a compromise: limiting public testimony to a specific time and giving speakers a second chance at the microphone if there is enough time at the end.
That method worked well at a recent Clallam Bay sewer committee meeting where “thorny issues” were being discussed, Peach said.
“People were able to get their voices out there and then at the end respond to some other voices,” Peach said.
Chapman said it is entirely appropriate for a volunteer board to limit public testimony but inappropriate for an elected board to do so.
McEntire said public testimony “needs to be done in an orderly fashion.”
“Have you heard of the Boston Tea Party?” Chapman asked McEntire.
“Our whole country is founded on unorderly public redress of their government.”
Said McEntire: “I don’t think the Boston Tea Party was an officially called meeting.”
Chapman, a former Republican turned independent, announced last spring that he would not seek a fifth four-year term in the 2016 election.
McEntire, a Sequim Republican, faces Sequim Democrat Mark Ozias in his bid for a second term this November.
Peach is a first-year Republican commissioner from Forks.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
