FULLERTON : New Public Comment Rules OKd by Council

The City Council has approved a new rule limiting public comment to 30 minutes at the beginning of each session.

Public comment is now restricted to three minutes per person on topics not on the council agenda. But people will be allowed to speak up to 10 minutes on agenda items and for an additional five minutes if they want to address the council on the same issue a second time.

In the past, there were no formal time limits and public comment came at the end of council sessions, sometimes making meetings last more than seven hours.

Besides the new public comment limits, council members voted to make audiotapes of council meetings available at the Fullerton Library.

Resident Allan Morton, who often addresses the council at its meetings, complained that the new public comment rules are too restrictive. He also asked that videotapes of the meetings be made available for public use and that council meetings be played on cable television more than once.

After a loud exchange with members of the council, Morton was told that the city does not have the money to provide videotapes or play reruns of meetings on the local cable channel.