City Council Sets Limits on Public Comment to Speed Meetings : Thousand Oaks: Statements will be channeled into a one-hour session rather than addressing each agenda item.

Aiming to streamline meetings notorious for dragging on well past midnight, the Thousand Oaks City Council has agreed to restrict much of the public comment to a one-hour session at each meeting.

The council approved a resolution late Tuesday lengthening the weekly public comment session from 30 minutes to an hour, beginning at 6 p.m. But the city will no longer allow residents to address specific agenda items as they arise throughout the meeting.

Under the old system, residents had numerous opportunities to speak before the council. They could take five minutes during the public comment period at 6:30 to discuss any subject under the sun, they could take another five minutes during a scheduled public hearing and then they could ask to speak on each agenda item, if they wanted.

On some occasions the open policy led to multiple appearances by some particularly active residents, who often submitted five or six speaker cards per meeting.

One of those frequent speakers, council candidate Ekbal Quidwai, showed up at Tuesday night’s meeting dressed as the Soviet revolutionary leader V. I. Lenin to protest what he called the disenfranchisement of the people of Thousand Oaks.

“This is an infringement of our First Amendment rights,” Quidwai said, his glued-on goatee and mustache trembling with outrage.

Longtime political activist Marshall Dixon also spoke out against the new policy, urging the council to think carefully before taking action. He said he understands the frustration of having to listen to speakers who ramble on nonsensically, adding minutes and even hours to the weekly meetings.

“You want to put your foot down,” Dixon told the council. “But frustration is not reason enough to take away a privilege, which was not yours to give in the first place. Freedom of speech is sometimes an unfortunate but necessary thing.”

Council members offered assurances that they are not trying to suppress free speech.

Public hearings on specific issues will remain unchanged under the new policy, and any item that sparks extraordinary community interest will be broadened into a public hearing.

“We are only bringing ourselves in line with other cities,” Councilman Andy Fox said. “We are in no way trying to squash public input.”

In Oxnard, residents are limited to three minutes during a public comment period and must address agenda items at that time. But if there are many speakers on a certain issue, the council can--at its discretion--allow residents time to air their views as the agenda items come up.

Simi Valley Mayor Greg Stratton said an occasional hot-button issue prompts his council to do the same. But typically, residents speak only during public hearings and during a specified comment period at the beginning of meetings. He said Simi Valley instituted its current policy in the early 1980s, in part because gadflies were eating up meeting time.

“We had guys who, if there were six items on the agenda, would put in six cards,” Stratton said. “So we said, ‘You have to do all your talking at once.’ “It has streamlined the meetings,” he added. “It has allowed people who have legitimate things to talk about to come down and get it done. A few people were basically monopolizing the whole time. People did not want to wait while some guy rambled on. We now have much broader participation.”

Precisely the point of the Thousand Oaks resolution, Mayor Jaime Zukowski said.

“This is not only to address the length of our meetings but to increase the predictability factor,” Zukowski said.

She said some people come to the meeting early, expecting to speak on an issue, but end up waiting hours until the council reaches that item. The change will make it easier for residents to speak their minds without worrying about baby-sitters at home or how early they have to get up in the morning.

The council members debated only about 20 minutes before passing the measure unanimously. But they were still cautious about its implementation, saying they will revisit the issue in six months to see how it is working.

“I don’t think anything is cast in stone,” Councilwoman Judy Lazar said. “If we do not feel we are getting sufficient input, we can change this.”