City Council votes to give itself a voice

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT BEACH -- To respond or not to respond. Now it’s no longer an

open question.

The City Council revamped its public comment period on Tuesday to

allow officials and staff members to provide information and correct the

misstatements of speakers.

After a lively debate winding through some of the nuances of the Brown

Act, the state law governing public meetings, the council approved the

changes on a slim 4-3 vote.

The Brown Act allows council members or staff to “briefly respond” to

public comments but not debate individual speakers.

Mayor Gary Adams proposed the change at the Aug. 14 meeting.

Councilmen Steve Bromberg, Gary Proctor and Dennis O’Neil joined Adams in

supporting a rewrite of the council’s Policy A-10, which governs the

comment session.

Speakers are given three minutes to comment on any item of city

business that doesn’t appear on the agenda. They may also address

specific items.

In addition to adding the response time, the council also said it

would permit a brief response from the individual to the council’s

comment.

The changes have been lauded by Greenlight author Allan Beek, a

frequent speaker, as a way to create a town hall-meeting flavor at the

meetings.

“There is a difference between a debate and a problem-solving

session,” Beek said Tuesday evening.

However, a town hall meeting is not what everyone had in mind for City

Hall.

“The people of Newport Beach can come up here and say anything they

want and answer to no one but their own conscience,” said Councilwoman

Norma Glover, who voted against the change with Councilmen John Heffernan

and Tod Ridgeway. “There is a certain amount of dignity in silence.”

Adams had initially proposed a five-minute response time for the city

officials but has since backed off that stance. First Amendment watchdogs

had expressed concern that a five-minute response would not be considered

brief.

The council is set to revisit the issue in another three to four

months to evaluate its success.

Despite the potential for abuse of time by council members, Bromberg

said he was confident the members would be respectful of the public’s

right to be heard.

“I think we’ve got to give ourselves a little credit,” Bromberg said.

“If we blow this thing, we blow it. I don’t think we will.”

* Paul Clinton covers the environment and John Wayne Airport. He may

be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail ato7

[email protected] .