June 04, 2008
www.northfulton.com
ALPHARETTA -- No longer will Alpharetta City Council tolerate long-winded speakers, whether they come from the public or, apparently, each other. Mayor Arthur Letchas introduced new procedures for public comment during the May 27 council meeting.
City Council challenged the public -- and itself -- to keep comments brief on rezoning and other issues requiring public hearings.
"We are going to do our best and we have also challenged each other to keep our comments brief," Letchas said.
By definition, a public hearing allows the public to make its views known. As of Tuesday's council meeting, comments were limited to 3 minutes for individuals and 5 minutes for any person representing a group, such as a homeowners' association.
Starting at this week's meeting, anyone wanting to speak had to turn in a comment card before the beginning of each meeting. But for the first evening, after explaining the new procedures the mayor recessed the meeting for 10 minutes to give anyone interested in making comment a chance to turn in a card. Several people took advantage of that opportunity.
Council had discussed adopting guidelines at its annual retreat in February, and at workshops.
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