City of Fort Bragg
Administrative Regulation No. ________
1 PUBLIC COMMENTS
I. OBJECTIVE
The objective of this Administrative Regulation aims to establish policies and procedures for receiving and distributing public comments in a consistent manner and style.
II. PROCEDURES
Verbal Comments
1. The public can speak about anything within the jurisdiction of the City Council and Planning Commission, but the legislative body generally cannot act on or discuss an item that is not on the agenda, pursuant to the Ralph M. Brown Act.
2. The public members who wish to address the City Council or Planning Commission on the non-agenda, consent calendar, closed session, public hearing, or conduct of business items may do so when the Mayor calls for public comments at the meeting.
3. For hybrid meetings where the Zoom platform will be used, the public can use the “raise hand” feature to notify staff that they would like to make a public comment during designated public comment times. The speaker will need to provide their a name in the Zoom application to allow the City Clerk to identify them.
4. All speakers before the City Council and Planning Commission shall approach the public microphone and wait to be recognized by the Mayor/Acting Mayor or the Planning Commission Chair/Acting Chair. A member of the public is not required to provide his or her name prior to addressing the Council (Government Code §54953.3).
5. Questions to staff from the public and staff responses should be directed through the Mayor or Chair.
6. To encourage and respect the expression of all views, meeting rules prohibit clapping, booing, shouts of approval or disagreement, or other disruptive audience participation.
7. The audience is requested to be seated in the Council Chambers. Standing or oObstructing aisles is prohibited, unless they are in queue to provide a verbal comment at the podium.
8. In accordance with the Brown Act [Government Code section 54954.3, subdivision (b)], reasonable regulations may be adopted limiting the total amount of time allocated for public testimony on particular issues and for each individual speaker.
Depending upon the extent of the agenda, and the number of persons desiring to speak on an issue, the Presiding Officer may, at the beginning of the hearing, limit testimony., but in no event to less than three (3) minutes per individual.
9. All verbal and written comments will be non-defamatory and courteous. should conform to the City’s adopted Rules of Civility (Attachment A).
10. All verbal comments will be limited to one per agenda item.
Public Comments
Regulation ___
2 Written Comments
1. The public can provide written comments for any public meeting on a specific agenda item. Written comments should include the agenda item topic, number, and date of the meeting.
2. Written comments for Council meetings may be submitted to the City Clerk, by mail to 416 N. Franklin Street, Fort Bragg, CA 95437, or emailed to [email protected] or to the attention of the current City Clerk at the email address noted on the agenda. Written comments for Planning Commission meetings may be submitted by email to [email protected].
3. Written comments are recommended to be submitted by 2 pm on the day of the public meeting so that the deciding body has time to review them.
4. Written comments submitted by 2 pm on the day of the public meeting will be published with a separate link, and will provide public comments in the order received. added to the agenda packet and republished after 2 pm on the day of the meeting. Documents over 20 megabytes, or which have imbedded items or other complexities will not be published with the agenda. Hard copies will be available for review at City Hall prior to the meeting and at Town Hall during the meeting.
5. All communications shall be deemed received without any formal action by the hearing body.
6. All written comments will become a permanent part of the agenda packet on the day after the meeting or as soon thereafter as possible, except those written comments that are in an unrecognized file type or too large to be uploaded to the City's agenda software application.
7. Upon receipt, written comments will be distributed to the appropriate Board, City Council, or Planning Commission members. Additionally, a printed copy of the comments will be placed with a hard copy of the meeting agenda in City Hall for public review.
8. All writings or documents, including but not limited to emails and attachments to emails, submitted to the City regarding any item(s) listed or not listed on this agenda are public records.
9. While written comments become part of the record, they will not be read aloud at the meeting.
III. RESPONSIBILITY
1. The Community Development Department Administrative Assistant, or his/her designee, is responsible for forwarding written comments to the Planning Commission and Community Development Committee meetings.
2. The City Clerk, or his/her designee, is responsible for forwarding written comments to the City Council and Finance/Administration Committee meetings.
3. The Public Works Administrative Analyst, or his/her designee, is responsible for forwarding written comments to the Public Works Committee.
4. The Police Department Administrative Assistant, or his/her designee, is responsible for forwarding written comments to the Public Safety Committee.
Public Comments
Regulation ___
3 IV. DEFINITIONS
1. “Agendas” are the official document stating items to be discussed by the City Council, Planning Commission or Council Committees.
2. “Verbal Public Comments” are defined as comments provided in the speakers’ own voice, and may not include video or sound recordings of the speaker or of other individuals or entities unless permitted by the Presiding Officer.
3. “Written Public Comments” are defined as comments provided in writing or print.
Approved by City Manager ________________________ _______________________ (Signature) (Date)
Made a part of the City’s Administrative Regulations
binder and distributed to all City staff
________________________
(Date)