In Burbank, a new City Council agenda format aims to increase public participation
The Burbank City Council will soon test out a new agenda format its members hope will encourage more public participation.
Council members unanimously voted on Tuesday to approve a six-month trial period during which the agenda and meeting procedures will be reorganized to increase the number of chances the public can address the City Council.
The changes to the procedures, which are scheduled to go into effect during the Dec. 5 meeting, include a shorter three-minute general public-comment period near the beginning of the meeting when speakers can talk about any issue on or off the agenda. There will be added three-minute public-comment periods for each item during the report section of the agenda, said Kristen Hauptli, an administrative assistant for the city.
Burbank currently has a five-minute general-comment period near the beginning of the meeting and a three-minute comment period at the end of the agenda, which will be eliminated.
Should there be a public hearing, speakers will have three minutes instead of five minutes to address the City Council.
Hauptli said that should a speaker choose to talk at the beginning of the meeting about an item that will be discussed during the report section, he or she cannot speak about the item a second time.
Additionally, the agenda will be restructured to move council member comments and the introduction of additional future agenda items toward the end of the meeting to allow the public to address council members earlier. Currently, those items are on the agenda near the beginning of the meeting.
The public-comment cards that speakers submit will be tweaked to include an area where meeting attendees can indicate their support or opposition for an item if they choose not to speak.
Councilwoman Sharon Springer asked city staff if the general public-comment period could remain at five minutes while still having the comment period for report items at three minutes, as proposed.
City Manager Ron Davis said city staff wanted to keep all speaking times at three minutes because it gives every person who wants to speak — whether during the general comment period or during an item’s comment period — an equal amount of time to do so.
“Whether you speak earlier or later, [the city] gives you three minutes,” Davis said.
Vice Mayor Emily Gabel-Luddy said the changes are worth testing out for six months to see if they increase public participation.
Should the new format prove to be too complicated or impede the meeting’s flow, Gabel-Luddy said council members can choose to revert back to how the agendas were before.
“I’m good with it as a pilot [program],” Gabel-Luddy said. “I’d like to see it go through as a six-month trial period, and we can come back and evaluate it at that time.”
The City Council discussed whether to change the agenda format during its Oct. 10 meeting, but the changes were met with criticism from some residents who claimed the proposed changes would infringe on their 1st Amendment rights.
anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com
Twitter: @acocarpio
