ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Let Gadflies Have Their Say

The dictionary defines a gadfly as a person who annoys others or rouses them from complacency. For many city council members, the men and women who step to the lectern fit the definition of annoyances perfectly. But for those in the audience, the men and women trying to get their viewpoint across often are needed disturbers of the status quo.

To get gadfly status, you pretty much have to be such a frequent visitor to meetings of a city council or other publicly elected agency that its members know your name.

When they’re on target, gadflies perform a valuable service by making council members reexamine actions and expenditures. Wise elected officials recognize that and do not treat audience members as automatic adversaries.

Some who appear before a city council or the Board of Supervisors use the public comment period of a meeting to concentrate on one issue; others roam the landscape, discussing anything from utility bills to airports.

It is understandable that council members sometimes get weary of the comments, or even angry. But the taxpayers foot the bill for council members’ salaries, and those who are elected have an obligation to pay attention. Merely sitting on a dais does not by itself increase knowledge.

State law gives the public the right to speak at almost any public meeting. Elected officials often try to lessen the rhetoric of others by putting the comment portion at the end of a session, a tactic that is not always successful. People committed to a cause usually are willing to wait out the officials. Rather than complain and duck, elected officials should give priority to topics stirring passions.

Some Orange County cities have limited the total public comment time to 15 or 30 minutes. That’s too short. Limiting individual speakers, perhaps to three minutes, seems fair. But a politician unwilling to listen to more than 15 minutes of comments doesn’t belong on the front lines of local government. Listening is part of the job. Not all meetings feature topics that bring the gadflies out, though budget time is usually a good bet for animated discussions. When gadflies are out of order, the chair can gavel them down. When they are helping direct needed attention to worthy issues, they should be heeded.