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Public comments are allowed again at Fredonia Board of Trustees meetings, after the board voted Monday to restore them.
The move came with the support of Trustees Ben Brauchler and Paul Wandel, along with Mayor Michael Ferguson. The trio supported the original suspension of comments a few months ago, citing concerns about the tone of some of them.
Monday's vote to restore the comments period within meetings was 4-0, with Trustees LeeAnn Lazarony and Tim Mulholland also voting "aye." Trustee Christine Cruz Keefe did not attend the meeting.
Ferguson commented that if he had a vote, he would also vote "aye." The mayor broke a 2-2 board tie to suspend the comments session, before Mulholland was a member. Cruz Keene and Lazarony voted to keep the comments, while Brauchler and Wandel supported the hiatus for them.
Mulholland read out the resolution to reopen commenting. It stated that the public periods "should be conducted according to reasonable and consistently applied rules that allow participation, while preserving orderly conduct of village business."
The comment period will occur before board votes, as it did before. Any member of the public may speak. People can speak about "village business, an agenda item, or another matter reasonably within the authority of village government."
There will be a three-minute time limit for all comments and each person can speak only once "unless the presiding officer permits additional comment for purposes of clarification." Unused time cannot be shared with anyone else.
A "speaker may criticize village policies, decisions, operations, employees or elected officials." However, "conduct that materially disrupts the meeting is prohibited. Examples include shouting over another recognized speaker, refusing to stop after allotted time has expired, a threat of violence, blocking access to the meeting room, or otherwise preventing the board or the public from hearing or proceeding with the meeting."
In addition, "No person shall receive preferential or unfavorable treatment based on the person’s identity, political position, support for or criticism of the village, or relationship with a member of the board."
Wandel said, "I see a responsibility here. I see a responsibility on the side of the public to engage with the board in a respectful and civil manner -- at the same time and conversely, that the board will listen, but also to exercise the rules and regulations we have set forth here."
Stating that he has a notebook full of notes taken when public speakers were allowed, Wandel added, "I'm not against public comment. However, we needed a period where it was beneficial to suspend it."
Lazarony commented, "I hope that now that the resolution was passed to stop public comment, and now that we're bringing it back, that everybody stays respectful. Let's just be respectful. We all live in this community. We're not always going to agree, but we should try to at least listen to everybody in a respectful manner."
A few minutes before voting on the measure, board members read out four critical letters sent by residents. They generally needled Brauchler, Ferguson and Wandel for suspending public comments in the first place, and supported the restoration of an open speaking period.
One letter writer called Ferguson a “tyrannical maniac" and a "buffoon and bully." The woman asked that her name be withheld, suggesting that after the behavior she has observed from the mayor, she is afraid he might retaliate.