Public Comment Speaker Card and Remote Public Comment Queue Policy
CITY OF UNION CITY
Public Comment Speaker Card and Remote Public
Comment Queue Policy
1. Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to establish a consistent process for receiving, organizing, and calling public speakers during City Council meetings, including hybrid meetings with both inperson and remote public participation.
This policy is intended to support orderly meeting administration, preserve the public's opportunity to comment, and provide clear procedures for in-person speaker cards and remote speaker queues.
2. Scope
This policy applies to public comments provided during open sessions of City Council meetings, including Oral Communications, public comment on agenda items, public hearings, Consent Calendar items when public comment is opened, City Manager Reports, and any other portion of the meeting where public comment is permitted by law.
This policy applies to both in-person and remote speakers who participate via a City-provided telephonic or audiovisual platform.
3. General Public Comment Rules
Public comment shall be conducted in accordance with the Ralph M. Brown Act and other applicable law.
The City Council may adopt reasonable regulations to ensure that public comment is conducted in an orderly, fair, and efficient manner, including limits on the total time allocated for public comment and on the time allotted to each speaker.
All speakers, whether participating in person or remotely, shall be provided the same time allotment for public comment on the same item.
Public comment time may not be transferred, donated, reserved, or yielded to another speaker.
Each speaker may speak once per public comment period or once per agenda item, unless otherwise allowed by the Mayor or other presiding officer.
4. Speaker Cards and In-Person Public Comment
Members of the public who wish to speak in person are requested to submit a speaker card to the City Clerk or designated staff for the applicable agenda item or Oral Communications period.
Speaker cards are used to assist the City in organizing public comment and calling speakers in an orderly manner.
Public Comment Speaker Card and Remote Public Comment Queue Policy A speaker card should identify the agenda item on which the person wishes to speak. For Oral Communications, the speaker card should indicate that the person wishes to speak under Oral Communications.
A speaker is not required to provide a street address, email address, telephone number, or other personal contact information to speak.
A speaker who does not wish to state a name may identify themselves as "Member of the Public" or may otherwise request to be called anonymously.
A member of the public who does not complete a speaker card may still be included in the speaker count if the person identifies their intent to speak to the City Clerk or designated staff during the speaker count window before the speaker list is closed.
The City Clerk or designated staff may assign numbers or other neutral identifiers to speaker cards or speakers when needed to administer public comment.
5. Hybrid Meeting Speaker Count Procedure
For hybrid meetings, public comment shall be managed using both in-person speaker cards and the remote speaker queue.
Before public comment begins for each agenda item or public comment period, the Mayor, City Clerk, or designated staff shall report the number of in-person speakers for the item, including the number of speaker cards submitted and any other timely in-person requests to speak.
The Mayor shall then ask the City Clerk or designated staff to identify the number of remote participants who wish to speak on the item. The City Clerk or designated staff shall announce to remote participants that any person wishing to speak on the item must use the "raise hand" function, or other method announced by the City, during the speaker count window.
For Zoom meetings, remote participants shall be instructed to raise their hand when the City Clerk or designated staff calls for remote speakers for that item. Telephone participants may use the applicable Zoom telephone command, such as *9, or any other method announced by the City.
The Mayor, City Clerk, or designated staff shall provide a reasonable opportunity for remote participants to raise their hands and shall then report the number of remote speakers to the Mayor.
Based on the total number of in-person and remote speakers for the item, the Mayor shall announce the public comment time limit before speakers are called.
This process is intended to provide the Mayor with the information needed to determine an appropriate public comment time limit for the item and to ensure that the same time limit applies equally to in-person and remote speakers speaking on the same item.
6. Closing the Speaker List and Remote Queue
After the City Clerk or designated staff provides a reasonable opportunity for in-person speakers to identify their intent to speak and for remote participants to enter the remote speaker queue, the City Clerk or designated staff shall report the number of in-person and remote speakers to the Mayor.
Public Comment Speaker Card and Remote Public Comment Queue Policy After the Mayor announces the public comment time limit, the speaker list for that item shall be deemed closed unless the Mayor expressly reopens the speaker list or public comment.
In-person speaker cards or other in-person requests to speak submitted after the speaker list is closed shall not be accepted for that item unless the Mayor reopens the speaker list or public comment.
Remote participants who raise their hands or otherwise request to speak after the remote speaker queue is closed shall not be called for that item unless the Mayor reopens the remote speaker queue or public comment.
Last-minute speaker cards, late in-person requests, and late remote raised hands submitted after speakers have been counted or after speakers have begun being called will not be accepted for that item unless the Mayor reopens public comment.
7. Order of Speakers
Speakers shall generally be called in the following order: first, in-person speakers who timely submitted speaker cards or otherwise timely requested to speak and are present in the Council Chambers; followed by remote speakers who timely entered the remote speaker queue during the speaker count window.
Remote speakers shall be called in the order displayed by the City's remote participation platform. For Zoom meetings, remote speakers shall be called in the order shown by Zoom based on when each participant raised their hand.
The Mayor may modify the order of speakers as needed to support orderly meeting administration, address technology issues, manage public hearings, or ensure fair public participation, provided that any modification remains consistent with applicable law.
8. Calling Speakers
The Mayor, City Clerk, or designated staff shall call speakers to provide public comment.
In-person speakers should be present and ready to proceed to the podium when called.
Remote speakers should be available and prepared to speak when called. City staff may unmute remote speakers when it is their turn to speak.
If a speaker does not respond when called, the City Clerk or designated staff may move to the next speaker. The nonresponsive speaker’s opportunity to speak on that item may be deemed waived.
The City is not required to hold the speaker’s place, return to the speaker later, or delay public comment because a speaker is unavailable when called.
This section applies equally to in-person and remote speakers.
Remote speakers should be available and prepared to speak when called. City staff may unmute remote speakers when it is their turn to speak.
If a speaker does not respond when called, the City Clerk or designated staff may move to the next speaker. The nonresponsive speaker’s opportunity to speak on that item may be deemed waived.
Public Comment Speaker Card and Remote Public Comment Queue Policy The City is not required to hold the speaker’s place, return to the speaker later, or delay public comment because a speaker is unavailable when called.
This applies equally to in-person and remote speakers.
9. Public Comment Time Limits
The Mayor may announce the public comment time limit before public comment begins.
The standard public comment time limit shall be up to three minutes per speaker, unless the Mayor announces a different time limit.
The Mayor may reduce or adjust the time limit based on the number of speakers, the nature of the item, the length of the agenda, or other meeting-management considerations, provided that the same time limit is applied equally to all speakers on the same item.
If interpretation is used and simultaneous translation equipment is not used, the City shall provide additional time as required by law.
10. Consent Calendar Public Comment
Members of the public may speak on Consent Calendar items before the City Council acts on them.
A speaker card for a Consent Calendar item should identify the specific item number the speaker wishes to address.
The Mayor may allow public comment on all Consent Calendar items collectively before Council action.
11. Public Hearings
For public hearings, the Mayor shall open the hearing and provide an opportunity for public comment before closing it.
Speaker cards and remote speaker requests for public hearing items should be submitted or entered before the public hearing is closed.
After the public hearing closes, additional comments may not be accepted unless the Mayor reopens it.
12. Written Public Comments
Members of the public may submit written public comments in accordance with the instructions listed on the agenda.
Written comments are separate from oral public comment.
Submission of written comments does not prevent a member of the public from also providing oral public comment, subject to this policy and applicable time limits.
Written comments received before the applicable deadline may be distributed to the City Council and made part of the public record in accordance with City procedures.
Public Comment Speaker Card and Remote Public Comment Queue Policy
13. Speaker Time and Safety Interruptions
The Mayor or presiding officer may interrupt a speaker when the speaker's allotted time has expired.
When a speaker's time has expired, the speaker shall conclude their remarks. If the speaker continues after being informed that their time has expired, the Mayor or presiding officer may end the speaker's public comment for that item and direct staff to proceed to the next speaker.
The Mayor or presiding officer may also interrupt a speaker if there is an immediate safety concern, including conduct that involves the use of force or a true threat of force.
For purposes of this policy, a true threat of force means a threat that has sufficient indicia of intent and seriousness that a reasonable observer would perceive it to be an actual threat to use force by the person making the threat.
Except where there is an immediate safety concern involving the use of force or a true threat of force, the Mayor or presiding officer should first inform the speaker of the issue and provide an opportunity to comply before ending the speaker's public comment.
This section applies equally to in-person speakers and remote speakers.
Nothing in this policy shall be interpreted to prohibit public criticism of the policies, procedures, programs, or services of the City, or of the acts or omissions of the City Council, City officials, or City staff.
14. Administration
The City Clerk is authorized to prepare and maintain speaker cards, remote speaker procedures, agenda language, and related administrative processes consistent with this policy.
The City Manager, City Attorney, and City Clerk may develop administrative procedures to implement this policy, including procedures for hybrid meetings, remote speaker management, written comments, and public hearing administration.
Administrative procedures may be updated as needed to address changes in meeting technology, law, or operational needs, provided that such procedures remain consistent with this policy and applicable law.
15. No Limitation on Legal Rights
This policy is intended to support orderly public comment procedures. It shall not be interpreted to limit any public comment rights required by the Ralph M. Brown Act or other applicable law.
If any portion of this policy conflicts with state or federal law, the applicable law shall control.
16. Effective Date
This policy shall take effect upon adoption by the City Council.
Public Comment Speaker Card and Remote Public Comment Queue Policy
Public Comment Speaker Card and Remote Public Comment Queue Policy Hybrid Meeting Quick Reference
The following workflow summarizes the procedure for hybrid City Council meetings:
Step Action
1 The Mayor announces the agenda item or public comment period. 2 The Mayor asks the City Clerk how many in-person speakers there are for the item, including speaker cards and any timely non-card requests.
3 The Mayor asks the City Clerk to call for remote speakers for the item. 4 The City Clerk announces the speaker count window and instructs Zoom participants to raise their hands. Telephone participants may use *9 or another announced method. 5 The City Clerk provides a reasonable opportunity for remote participants to raise their hands, and then reports the number of remote participants to the Mayor. 6 The Mayor announces the total number of speakers and the public comment time limit for the item.
7 The speaker list and remote queue close for that item unless the Mayor reopens them. 8 The Mayor, City Clerk, or designated staff call in-person speakers first, followed by remote speakers.
9 Remote speakers are called in the order they appear in Zoom or the City's remote participation platform.
10 Late speaker cards, other late in-person requests, and late raised hands are not accepted after the speaker list closes unless the Mayor reopens public comment.