Discussion among Covington city commissioners at Tuesday night’s caucus meeting indicated the commission will consider reforms to the public comment procedures at the commission’s legislative meetings, which occur every other Tuesday. No official action was taken at the meeting, but the topic was added to the agenda for the next caucus meeting, which will occur on the evening of Tuesday, April 16.
The discussion occurred in the shadow of a recent attempt by some Covington residents to convince the commission to pass a resolution supporting a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, which at times led to tense exchanges between the commissioners and speakers.
Mayor Joe Meyer proposed the changes as an addition to the caucus meeting’s agenda; the topic did not appear on the meeting’s original agenda. Meyer said that even though many of the measures were tacitly expected of public commenters in the past, the new measures would formalize them in writing.
The following measures were included among the proposed changes:
- Public commenters must wait to be addressed before speaking
- Commenters must obey the directions of the meeting’s chair about when and how long they are allowed to speak
- Everyone must respect everyone in attendance, whether they agree or disagree with speakers’ comments
- Speakers cannot make personal, impertinent, profane or slanderous remarks to any member of the commission, city staff or member of the public in attendance
- Speakers cannot verbally or physically threaten, intimidate or bully members of the commission, city staff or members of the public in attendance
- Speakers cannot use hateful epithets or demeaning language based on a person’s race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender or disability
- Speakers cannot use profanity or obscenity generally
- Audience members would not be allowed to applaud, cheer, jeer, boo, shout or heckle
- Speakers may not attack or question the motives of others at the meeting
- The meeting’s chair would have the formal authority to instruct police to escort someone from the commission chambers if they’re being disruptive
- The meeting’s chair would have the formal authority to prohibit signs, banners and other props in the commission chambers
- The meeting’s chair would have the formal authority to mandate groups of speakers who share the same point of view to choose a spokesperson who will speak on their behalf, rather than allowing multiple members to speak on the same topic
There was some disagreement about the details among the commissioners, but the commission will discuss possible amendments to the ordinance at the caucus meeting on April 16.