Council Creates Stir With Civility Policy

There’s a new rule for City Council meetings: “All public comments addressed to the City Council shall observe civility, decorum and good behavior.”

Council members unanimously voted for the addition, despite opposition from some residents who complained the restriction is one-sided.

“Civility begets civility,” said Allan Morton, a council critic who recently was admonished for hitting Councilwoman Julie Sa in the face with a campaign sign during a heated debate about political placards. “It’s a two-way street.”

Morton and others--including W. Snow Hume, a resident who was condemned last year for making council meeting remarks that many found discriminatory and offensive--proposed that the council take no action or add a few words to the new rule so council members, too, would have to observe “good behavior” when addressing the public.

The additional wording was not included and Marie Whaling, another council critic, called the panel’s action “an insult to the citizens.”

Mayor Chris Norby responded: “The standards that we expect of the public, we ourselves will meet as well.”

City officials said the rule was proposed by Robert Johnson, president of the local chapter of the National Institute of Parliamentarians, an organization that promotes education and use of parliamentary procedure.

He told the council last month that the boorish behavior displayed at council meetings was giving the city a black eye.

In other action, the council tabled a proposal to include on the November ballot the issue of whether the city clerk, now elected, should be appointed.