The 3-minute egg rule has been removed during the public comment part of the Council Meetings.
Previously, the normal 5-minute rule was reduced to 3 minutes by the former Council President, who used a timer on her phone to enforce the 3-minute rule.
The new Council has instituted an informal policy of “time needed” for a resident to comment at a council meeting. There is still some discussion as to whether or not to impose a formal time limit of 5 minutes, but to allow for extended time if the commenter isn’t repeating themselves and wants to comment on more than one subject.
Council would still retain the right to adjust the comment time before opening the comment portion of the meeting, if it appears that numerous people intend to speak because of a hot topic.
In that case, I’m of the opinion that a second comment period be made available near the end of the scheduled agenda, to allow previous speakers, who may have been cut off due to time restrictions, to address the council again in order to finish what they wanted to say. Only previous speakers would be heard if a second comment period is opened.
Disclaimer: On January 4, 2016, the owner of WestEastonPA.com began serving on the West Easton Council following an election. Postings and all content found on this website are the opinions of Matthew A. Dees and may not necessarily represent the opinion of the governing body for The Borough of West Easton.
