Beginning May 2, the new policy became officially ending the government meeting after dealing with everything on the agenda, taking a 5-minute break and then reconvening to hear general public comments that can be about most anything.
DAYTONA BEACH — Even in the age of cellphones, email, texting, Facebook and Twitter, some people still like to talk to elected officials face to face during public meetings.
And some of those taxpaying voters also want their comments to be heard by people listening live on government websites and television channels. So when Daytona Beach city commissioners made some changes this month to the way they listen to public comments on things not on meeting agendas, it raised the ire of some local residents.
Beginning May 2, the new policy became officially ending the government meeting after dealing with everything on the agenda, taking a 5-minute break and then reconvening to hear general public comments that can be about most anything. The meetings are now divided into what are being called the business meeting and a public comment forum.
"I thought public comment is the business of the City Commission," said Daytona Beach resident Mary Synk. "That just says you don't view public input as part of your responsibility."
Synk and others were also disturbed to find out that during last week's meeting, the general public comments were not broadcast over the internet or government channel, and there is no recording of them listed on the city website. The visuals on those end-of-meeting public comments were blacked out many months ago, but people could still hear the audio until last week. People listening at home Wednesday night suddenly got promotional city videos while people at City Hall saw and heard public comments.
Some citizens see it as a disrespectful dismissal of what they have to say, and a continued ebbing of their access to elected officials. The mayor and city commissioners, however, say they're trying to find the best way to deal with people who have abused their right to speak. Some have regularly grandstanded for their personal agendas and launched verbally abusive personal attacks on the city manager, mayor and city commissioners.
"If there's any comment that's rude or that does not reflect public decency, we'll have zero tolerance for that, period," Mayor Derrick Henry said at the May 2 meeting. "You'll be gaveled down and asked to sit down and not be able to speak for the rest of the meeting."
The changes do not affect the policy of allowing people to speak throughout the meeting for 2½ minutes on agenda items that are being voted on. Commissioners are focused on the open-ended comments people can make, also for 2.5 minutes, at the end of the meeting.
Those varied public comments used to be taken toward the beginning of Daytona Beach City Commission meetings, then a few years ago they were moved toward the end.
While some accused City Manager Jim Chisholm of initiating the most recent changes, City Commissioners Kelly White and Rob Gilliland said they went to Chisholm with concerns about the lack of decorum some speakers had.
"After the last few meetings, I've implored the city manager to help brainstorm some ways to look at the way we format our agendas and run our meetings," White said. "I feel like the focus of this being a business meeting where we talk about policy, manage the budget — that focus is being eroded by people who may want to intimidate or bully or hold us hostage in some way."
White noted that allowing general public comments isn't required, but she still feels it's commissioners' "job" to listen to nonagenda issues.
"I've asked the city manager to try to find ways to get a little more civilized atmosphere," White said.
Gilliland said he had a similar conversation with Chisholm.
"It's been a problem since I've been on the commission, and prior to that," said Gilliland, who's been in office for more than a decade. "It gets abused every time an issue comes up. Some just flat out lie, and it's very damaging to the city of Daytona Beach when we're up here televising the misinformation they spread around the city."
The city has added a disclaimer that scrolls across the bottom of the video screen when some members of the public speak to alert viewers that the comments might not reflect the city's position on a matter and may not be accurate.
Gilliland said he'd prefer people call or email him, but he recognizes that public comments have "value."
"I want to continue it in a way that's productive," Gilliland said.
"I do feel some things are getting out of control and out of hand," agreed City Commissioner Dannette Henry, the mayor's sister. "I do not like to see the personal attacks that have nothing to do with city business."
Another worry residents have with the public comments taking place after the meeting has officially concluded is that commissioners and city staff could head for home before those final remarks are made. Gilliland said he will stick around, as did the mayor, Dannette Henry and several other commissioners.
"No resident is ever going to be able to say I won't listen to them," the mayor said, and proceeded to give out his cell phone number. "I believe in the value of what the residents have to say to us. I think it's vital to us to fulfill our role as public elected officials. It's probably the most important thing to me."
But he went on to say "this is first and foremost a business meeting."
City Commissioner Aaron Delgado left the meeting last week before final public comments. But Delgado, an attorney in private practice, said later in an interview that he has a complicated court case starting Monday that required a vast amount of preparation and he had to meet with a witness.
Delgado said he supports the right to speak at meetings, but he doesn't want that right abused.
"I do often feel we're the unwilling participants in a theatrical performance," Delgado said. "I don't think anyone wants to get rid of public comment. We want to make it effective and meaningful. It's a question of fine tuning things until it works."
City Commissioner Ruth Trager has been the most vocal opponent of the changes to public speaker policy. She said she believes the city manager was trying to keep commissioners from being "slandered," but she doesn't want to choke off public discourse in the process.
Vern Weatherholtz, a member of the city's Code Enforcement Board and a City Commission candidate, told commissioners "this is the only forum that most of us have an opportunity to address all of you in one group."
"I believe it's a necessity for the city of Daytona Beach," Weatherholz said. "We have a lot of problems right now and a lot of issues coming up."
Al Burchardt, a retired firefighter who lives part of the year in a home he owns on Daytona's beachside, said the new approach is "quite disturbing."
"You're almost treated like a second-class citizen," Burchardt said. "Almost every attorney and businessman (in the audience) was long gone by the time I spoke. It's the last time I'll probably go to one of those meetings. People are disgusted, man."
Daytona Beach's new public comment forum is very similar to what the Volusia County Council has done for many years. But there are some differences.
The county takes public comment that's videotaped and audio taped for the 30 minutes prior to the agenda portion of the meetings that begin at 10 a.m., and only the county chair is required to be there. There is also a second general public comment period during the meeting that doesn't limit the time allotted for speakers.
City spokeswoman Susan Cerbone said the new public comment protocol in Daytona Beach could undergo more changes.
"It seems to be a work in progress, and I would suspect additional tweaks to be made while we work through the process," Cerbone said.