The North Royalton City Council corrected an issue that they didn’t know existed. They were unaware that not all were allowed to address them during Council meetings.
The rule that was on the books stated that any resident, by submitting a request, may speak at a regular council meeting on agenda items. The public can be heard at end of the meeting, on miscellaneous items. A poll was taken on twenty different communities, where it was shown that sixteen allowed only residents to speak. Nineteen of those communities required a name and address. The time allowed to speak ranged from two minutes to ten minutes and six of the communities required a form be filled out.
It is not clear how the matter came to light, but Council placed the measure regarding allowing residents to speak on the February 3 Review and Oversight Committee agenda, where it was discussed. Council President Paul Marnecheck said that “I think there was a question over what those rules were. Somebody asked a question and it was found that it was in the rules.”
In the past, anyone who wished to address Council during their Council meeting had been allowed to speak, until someone brought up the fact that there were restrictions in the City’s codified ordinances, which stated that residents were allowed to speak. Ward 2 Council Representative Gary Pestrusky noted that, “we never had an issue in the previous 12 years.” He also noted that, “we have always had people with different organizations and businesses, who did not reside in the City. As long as the form was filled out.”
Ward 5 Council Rep Kaylee Green stated that “we have a lot of people who work in the city and are frustrated that they cannot speak. I don’t think we need to restrict more people from speaking. We need to make it more consistent, or more perfectly clear.” North Royalton Law Director, Tom Kelly commented that all Council would have to do is change the word “resident” to “person.” Council then made a motion to change the verbiage to state that any person may speak on the agenda items, or during the miscellaneous portion of the meeting.
Council unanimously adopted an ordinance that amends the city’s codified ordinances regarding Council rules regarding their order of business. The measure was adopted at the February 17 City Council meeting. The measure amends the ordinance to allow all persons to address Council, rather than just residents, as was included in the original ordinance. The amendment was made to Part 2 Administrative Code, Chapter 220 Council, Section 220.06 Rules of Council, Rule IX – Order of Business. The measure was first introduced at the Review and Oversight Committee on February 3.
By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer
