Guidelines for Public Hearings

As the elected leaders of the City, we welcome your participation in the affairs of the City and your input on the issues before the City. Although you have the right to speak on any issue that you believe is important, you must recognize that our role is in the local government and, although we also are concerned over state and federal affairs, we have limited ability to influence these higher levels of government.

In order that everyone has an opportunity to participate in our public hearing process, there are some basic ground rules that we wish to follow.

1. We encourage all speakers to be courteous to everyone present.
2. If you disagree with a speaker, you are not permitted to heckle or otherwise interrupt the speaker.
3. All questions and comments should be addressed to the Chair of the meeting. If the Mayor, Manager, or another member of Council wishes to respond or is requested to provide a response, the Chair will so recognize that person.
4. In order to allow everyone present to present their opinions within a reasonable time frame, each speaker is limited to 5 minutes, including responses from Council, Mayor, or Manager.
5. There is no transfer or “ceding” of time from one speaker to another.
6. No speaker is allowed to speak twice until those wishing to have had a chance to speak once.
7. At the start of the public session, the Chair will announce the length of time for the session. The Public Session will be a maximum of 90 minutes or until 11 pm, whichever occurs first, unless the Council, by a majority vote of those present, agrees to extend these time limits.
8. For the record, each speaker is asked to clearly state their name, address, and any organization they may represent. If the speaker has written information he/she wishes to give to the Council, please provide it to the City Clerk who will provide copies to the elected officials.
9. The order of speakers will be as follows:
   • Englewood residents or business owners
   • Residents of other municipalities