Simi Valley City Council Moves to End Talkathons

Beginning Jan. 6, speakers at Simi Valley City Council meetings no longer will be able to ramble on in the town-hall tradition in which the city has prided itself.

Council members, weary after debate at two recent meetings dragged on for six hours over sensitive development issues, will put into effect strict time limits on speakers at public hearings.

‘Out of Hand’

“It started to get more and more out of hand,” Councilwoman Vicky Howard said after the unanimous council vote last week to impose limits. “It’s not fair to allow some people to filibuster and prevent others from speaking.”

Under the new rules, speakers for public discussions on general topics will be given a five-minute limit, and speakers for public hearings on specific agenda items will be given 10 minutes.

The council issued its decision Tuesday after completing a special meeting it had been forced to call when its regularly scheduled 6:30 p.m. Monday night meeting ran until 1 a.m.

At issue was a controversial proposed condominium project in Kadota Fig, a largely low-density, animal-keeping area. The meeting was characterized by name-calling and finger-pointing between the developer and area residents, and emotional testimony often strayed from the issue. Debate on that issue alone ran six hours.

Marathon Session

Two weeks before, a public hearing on a proposed 45-day extension of a development moratorium ran six hours.

“We had a lot of people who just gave up and went home and didn’t get the chance to talk because others dragged on,” Mayor Pro Tem Greg Stratton said of the two meetings.

An announcement of the new policy will be posted outside council chambers at the next meeting, Stratton said. The council will use a timing system that gives a 30-second warning to the speaker, but leaves it up to the mayor as to whether to allow speakers to continue.