The Council rules workshop

Yesterday afternoon the Pensacola City Council held a very productive, very inspiring workshop to discuss changes to its rules and procedures. Councilman Townsend was absent, and we’ve updated our Council attendance tracker accordingly.

Among the topics discussed:

• Public input at meetings. Presently, speakers at Council meetings are allotted five minutes to speak, or three if the Mayor decides there’s a lot of speakers. Going forward, speakers will get four minutes regardless. Councilwoman Mack was concerned that allowing the Mayor to change the time allotted disenfranchised those who might show up prepared to make a five-minute presentation but were suddenly limited to three minutes. Furthermore, at the Mayor’s discretion, some speakers may now be permitted to respond if Council members make statements or allegations that the speaker takes issue with. Councilman Hall brought up the issue, and Council debated some sort of rule, such as one minute to respond, etc., but found it best to leave it at the discretion of the Mayor.
• The Finance Committee. Presently chaired by the Deputy Mayor and comprised of the Mayor and other committee chairs, the Finance Committee will now be a committee of the whole. Councilwoman Mack brought up the issue, complaining that on previous Councils, due to the inequitable distribution of committee assignments, the Finance Committee was too exclusive, and proposed including one non-committee chair. Mayor Wiggins one-upped her, proposing the Finance Committee simply include all members of Council.
• Televising the Monday committee meetings. Upon a suggestion by Councilwoman Mack, City staff will look into what needs to be done to televise the Monday committee meetings. This is long overdue.