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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, January 09, 2017 Page 24 Mayor Roe cautioned the city council that a lot of groups were doing things in and for the city that inay not be directly affiliated with the city. Mayor Roe stated that his philosophy was to err on the side of the rights of people to speak and ad- dress their goverrnnent, and therefore, sought not to restrict them. Mayor Roe opined that he found public coinment becoming inore disciplined; with Coun- cilmember McGehee agreeing she didn't see it being abused as much as in the past. Councihneinber Laliberte stated that she was uncomfortable not allowing public coinment just because it was intended for a public hearing for a land use issue at the Planning Coirunission meeting. However, as she had learned over the years, Councihneinber Laliberte noted that often soineone may not have been watching a Planning Commission ineeting or aware of an issue, and this inay be their first opporhinity to speak. Councihneinber Laliberte stated that an exception would be if a topic was discussed 3-4 times and in several different manners; and the same testimony was being given repeatedly by the same person, especially when that testimony was already inchided in written fonn or as part of the official record in the meeting ininutes in packet inaterials. Councilmember Etten agreed not to limit public comment on land use issues to only the Planning Commission but as the City Council as well. However, when something is openly discussed at several City Council meetings, Councilmember Etten suggested repeat coinments have a time limit applied, or only accept new points or infonnation. Councilmember Etten suggested this could be accom- plished through instnictions froin the Mayor versus a firm rule, and depending on the issue. When a certain issue gets repeated coinment froin the same people, Councihnember Etten noted it becomes a long, tedious, and repetitive sihiation; and therefore, he suggested adjusting expectations from repeat comments via in- structions from the bench. For those items coining before the Planning Cominission, while not precluding additional cominent at the City Council level, Mayor Roe suggested it made sense to reduce the allotted time to three ininutes when a formal public hearing had al- ready been provided. Councilmeinber McGehee suggested, when a spealcer had already been heard or a list of points had been made by one or a group of spealcers, perhaps by the mayor restating those points at the beginning of public comment, a statement could be made that if new information is available then come forward. Mayor Roe expressed concern with that concept, noting that unless multiple cop- ies of minutes or materials providecl at the Planning Coinmission from that public testimony were inade available for the public, it wouldn't be fair for the public to not have that infonnation available to them.