Colfax City Council extends time limit for public comment

As part of the Sept. 14 consent agenda, the Colfax City Council approved a resolution to extend the time limit for speakers during public comment. At the Aug. 24 meeting, Colfax Mayor Trinity Burruss broached the topic of the three-minute limit during the Good of the Order. After researching the Brown Act, Burruss said time limitations are to ensure the meeting is occurring in a timely fashion and wanted to examine the city's time limit to ensure it is not limiting people's free speech. "I don't appreciate having to cut people off at three minutes, especially when we have a light agenda," Burruss said during the Aug. 24 meeting. "I think that it's unnecessarily restrictive, and so I'd like to give people more time to speak when it's appropriate so they can finish their thoughts." According to the staff report, the three-minute limit arose from informal direction from the council in December 2009, as meetings before the Dec. 9, 2009, meeting allowed five minutes for public comment. The three-minute limit was implemented Dec. 16, 2009. The council's approval increases the public comment time limit to five minutes per speaker. The staff report notes the five-limit minute will also apply to written public comment when read into the record. According to the staff report, the resolution also reserves the council's discretion to adjust total time designated for public comment on certain issues or each individual speaker on a case-by-case basis.