Chattanooga City Council gives public more time to speak

The Chattanooga City Council considers giving more time for people to speak at the end of the body's meetings.
The Chattanooga City Council considers giving more time for people to speak at the end of the body's meetings.

Anyone who wants to publicly address the Chattanooga City Council at the end of its Tuesday evening meetings now has more time to do so.

Last night, the city council voted 9-0 to give speakers five minutes of time to make their remarks, replacing the long-standing three-minute rule. As before, the council still has the leeway to offer more time to a speaker.

Council Chairman Jerry Mitchell originally asked his colleagues for six minutes, but the council voted to amend it down to five, with many citing the need to strike a balance so as to allow everyone to voice their concerns in a meaningful way.

Councilman Chip Henderson, who made the request to trim Mitchell's six-minute proposal, said it comes down to respecting everyone's time.

"Time is precious," Henderson said. "It's something that we all have a limited amount of. I guess more than anything, I just want to make sure that we respect the rules - and not only that we respect the rules, but those who come up to speak respect the rules."

Henderson said he expects speakers to not simply ignore the five-minute buzzer and just continue talking.

"I don't think it matters whether it's three, five or six [minutes], it's the substance," Councilwoman Carol Berz said. "I think that changing the time isn't nearly as important as enforcing that time when we need to or giving permission to go further when we need to. I think the overarching thing is that the person's concern gets met."

While it's important for people to have an opportunity to voice their concerns on record with the council, some concerns may actually need longer discussions with city department heads or others to actually resolve them, Berz said.

Councilman Darrin Ledford said getting to hear from the audience was "one my favorite parts" of the body's meetings. However, he said he had wrestled with changing the amount of time given to each speaker.

Giving too much time runs the risk of being counterproductive because it might eliminate people who don't have the time to wait until they get a chance to speak, Ledford said.

"What I'm a bit concerned about is if we move it [amount of speaking time] so far out, that people give up their opportunity to speak because they're tired," he said. "This is a real world situation here. I want to hear from everybody who has something to say. I don't want to shortchange anyone."

Councilman Anthony Byrd said he heard from many constituents who were unhappy with the three-minute limit when he campaigned for office.

"I still see people struggling to fit in their point within that three minutes," Byrd said, adding he did not want to give so much time that it discouraged others from speaking.

Contact staff writer Paul Leach at 423-757-6481 or pleach@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @pleach_tfp.

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