From: Shirley Fischer
Sent: Monday, December 18, 2023 2:39 PM
To: Distrib- City Clerk <[email protected]> Cc: Shirley Fischer
Subject: FOR PUBLIC RECORD--OPEN TIME FOR PUBLIC EXPRESSION On October 16,2023, in response to racist "zoombombing" San Rafael suspended public comment by zoom and telephone and required citizens to submit public comment in writing within 72 hours before the meeting or orally in person in 2 minutes at City meetings.
This policy change places a severe burden on citizens who wish to actively participate in City governance.
Other jurisdictions, such as Mill Valley, have similarly restricted zoom participation but have found remedies that continue to allow for robust citizen participation. I request that the City administratively adopt a policy similar to Mill Valley's policy. If more discussion is required before policy adoption, I request that this potential policy change be placed on the agenda for an upcoming Council meeting.
Mill Valley's public comment policy is: “Each individual is limited to one e-comment per agenda item. All additional e-comments sent by the same individual for the same agenda item will not be read out loud during the meeting but will be recorded into the public record after the meeting has been adjourned.
Staff will read each e-comment into the record for no longer than two minutes. Please limit your ecomment to 200-250 words as this is the approximate word count of reading aloud for two minutes. All e-comments will be included in their entirety in the public record after the meeting.” (Marin IJ, 10/14/23)
Thank you for your consideration of this important issue.
Shirley Fischer