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FREDONIA -- Fredonia officials continue to debate whether a public commenting session should be returned to village board meetings, and the format it would take if it is.
The Board of Trustees voted in June to suspend public commenting at meetings. It still allows correspondence to be read out. Several letter writers have used the opportunity to offer meandering discourses on village affairs, some of which took 10 minutes or more to read.
Trustee Paul Wandel attempted to crack down on that at the Aug. 17 trustees meeting. He introduced a resolution to limit each public letter to three minutes reading time. However, the resolution was voted down, with Ben Brauchler and Wandel backing it but Christine Cruz Keefe, LeeAnn Lazarony and Tim Mulholland voting "no."
Wandel quizzed his fellow trustees on the issue at the next Board of Trustees workshop. He wanted to know if they understood why the suspension of public comment happened in the first place. The vote in June to do that was 2-2, with a board seat later filled by Mulholland vacant at the time. Brauchler and Wandel voted "aye," Cruz Keefe and Lazarony said "nay," and Mayor Michael Ferguson cast the tie breaking vote.
"People were very frustrated at the comments that were being made, the attackedness of the comments," Lazarony replied. "I think some of the board felt it was just a small number of people that was affecting, and disruptive of, the board meetings."
Wandel called that "accurate" and stated, "Originally, our intent was to suspend, which means it's not going to be forever... I just want to make sure that we all understand why."
Cruz Keefe reminded that her position is to enforce the board-imposed rules on public commenting and handle problems on a case by case basis. She opposes cutting out the commenting entirely.
The trustees are evidently considering a resolution to end the suspension of public comments. Mulholland commented that he drafted some rules and guidelines for speaking.
"It's important to know that if we allow it, that we do acknowledge the rules and regulations and enforce them," Wandel said.
"I never want anyone here to feel attacked. Everybody has a right to an opinion," Lazarony said. "I feel like people have a right to come to the board and ask for things they need from the village. If you need something done on the apron of your driveway that the village is responsible for, then please come and talk to us... I guess I feel like once we take that public comment away, it's kind of like taking away the voice."
Ferguson replied, "Public comment isn't made to discredit, and degrade, and shout down the board. That's why it was taken away. ... There's not a person in this room that isn't here to make this community better. That's all that's in it for us. It is sure not the glory of being on the front page of the paper!"
Shortly thereafter, Ferguson tried to conclude the discussion with, "It is over, we move on. Let's get to department head reports."
However, the discussion wasn't over. It restarted half an hour later, when Mulholland sought to make a statement.
"I think public comment serves another purpose beyond just allowing our residents to speak. It is information gathering," he said. "I think we have blinders on at times when we don't hear from our residents."
Mulholland cited a recently proposed local law on downtown parking, which would have removed meters and imposed fees through an online service. The law was set aside after numerous complaints from residents. Fredonia opted to plan for free parking downtown with two-hour limits.
"It may have been better served if we had allowed (residents) to speak and listen to their concerns as we formulated our parking proposal," Mulholland said.
"With due respect, we did have public portion during the five months we talked about HONK beforehand," Ferguson said. HONK was the provider negotiating with the village to provide the online parking fee service.
Mulholland said he still didn't think many Fredonia residents "fully felt" that they were engaged enough by the village about the parking law.
Lazarony later brought up Fredonia's information session about its water project. "Maybe some of (the rancor) has calmed down a little bit since there has been more information out to the public about the project... Some people are always going to be excited about it, and some people are always going to have their opinions about it, and some people are always going to have their voices heard about it."
Lazarony concluded, "Just to silence that until the project's over, doesn't seem fair to me."