1. A person making verbal public comment shall be limited to five (5) minutes unless a longer or shorter time for public comment is approved by the body and offered to each person wishing to provide public comment.

2. Verbal public comment shall be accepted from people present at the time of the meeting, including those present by teleconference, if teleconferencing is available.

3. When called by the presiding officer, a person providing verbal public comment shall state and spell their legal name and state their city of residence, but shall not be required to disclose their mailing or home address unless this information is necessary or required based on the subject matter of the testimony.

4. Persons providing verbal public comment shall be limited to providing comment on an item once within the meeting.

5. All remarks must be addressed to the presiding officer or to the body as a whole.

6. In general, a member of the body should not respond to verbal public comment, except to ask clarifying questions.

1. Written public comment must be submitted twenty-four (24) hours before the meeting in order for the comment to be considered part of the meeting record. Timely submitted written public comment will be electronically distributed to councilmembers at least six (6) hours before the meeting. Written public comment received up to twenty-four (24) hours after the meeting will be forwarded to the councilmembers but not held or recorded as part of the meeting record.

2. Written public comment shall be submitted on a form provided by the city clerk.

3. Written public comment shall be limited to six hundred fifty (650) words. Written public comment submitted out of compliance with this section will be retained, but considered general correspondence to the body, and therefore not held or recorded as part of the meeting record.

4. A person providing written public comment shall identify themselves by their legal name and their city of residence, but shall not be required to disclose their mailing or home address unless that information is necessary or required based on the subject matter of the testimony.

5. Written public comment on an item scheduled for a public hearing will be recorded as part of the public hearing record unless the written comments include testimony unrelated to the public hearing, in which case it will be recorded under “people to be heard.”

6. Written public comment shall be distributed to the members, filed with the meeting record, but shall not be read aloud.

7. Written public comment and the information in the submission, including the commenter’s contact information, shall not be altered by staff and shall be considered a public record.

8. Written public comment timely submitted, but out of compliance with the standards outlined in this section, shall be ruled out of order by the chair and not retained as part of the meeting record.

1. The presiding officer will preserve decorum during meetings and decide all points of order, subject to appeal of the body.

2. Members of the public should not engage in debate or attempt to join in the body’s deliberation.

3. City staff and all other persons attending meetings must observe the body’s rules of procedure and adhere to the same standards of decorum as members of the body.

4. Audience members may not obstruct the ability of the body to conduct its business. Any audience member who does so may be deemed out of order and the presiding officer may have the person removed from the meeting for the remainder of that meeting.

5. In the event of a loss in decorum, the presiding officer has the option to adjourn the meeting. The meeting will be rescheduled and published in compliance with law.

6. Disruptions to public meetings are prohibited. Disruptions include but are not limited to: