Vote on Public Comments Delayed

The county Board of the Supervisors on Tuesday postponed voting on a proposal to make its board meetings more open to public debate.

Supervisor Judy Mikels was absent from the meeting, and her colleagues said they wanted to give her a chance to weigh in on the issue.

The proposal by Supervisor John K. Flynn would reverse changes put in place by Mikels in 1998 that restricted most public comment to a morning time slot that begins at 8:30.

That limitation came about, board members said, because of a gadfly who routinely commented on many issues before the board, on one occasion adding more than an hour to the meeting.

Flynn said that since the curbs were adopted, however, several residents have complained. Some believed their comments did not resonate if they were made three or four hours before a topic actually came up for a board vote. Others wanted an opportunity to speak after county staff made analyses, rather than before.

Several residents, including the director of the Ventura County Taxpayers Assn. and members of a local organization of private airplane owners, spoke in favor of expanding the time for public remarks. Mikels could not be reached Tuesday for comment.