After community pushback, the Kane County Board Executive Committee has changed a policy proposal that would have reduced public comment time at county meetings by a total of 15 minutes.
While a number of other changes were kept in the proposal, such as the combination of on- and off-agenda public comment times, committee members voted 6-to-5 at Wednesday’s meeting to raise the proposal’s total public comment time to 45 minutes, which is the amount of time allotted for public comment under current county policy, from the originally proposed 30 minutes.
The policy proposal, which would also rearrange parts of Kane County Board meetings, passed the Executive Committee after a tied 6-to-6 vote was broken by Kane County Board Chair Corinne Pierog voting in favor of the proposal. Chairs typically only vote to break ties.
It now goes before the Kane County Board for a first reading on July 9. If it passes the board at that meeting, it will need to go before the board once more before becoming official policy.
Pierog urged committee members to make the change to the proposed public comment period length after around 10 people spoke against the proposed reduction during the meeting’s public comment period.
Many public speakers said the change made it look like County Board members were not interested in hearing from the public, while others said that the time for public comment should be increased beyond the currently allotted 45 minutes, not reduced.
“What would compel the board here to offer a proposal where we don’t want to hear from our citizens?” asked Aaron White, who spoke during the meeting’s public comment period. “The people elect officials, and officials are accountable to the people.”
Under the proposed changes, more people would be able to speak than with the current policy, according to Pierog.
She said the current policy only allows a total of 11 people to speak at each meeting, if they each fully use their allotted time. The proposed changes would allow a total of 15 people to speak even if they use their full time.
That’s because the changes would combine the on- and off-agenda public comment periods, giving every public speaker only three minutes to make their comments, up to a total of 45 minutes for all speakers.
The changes would also let the board, through a majority vote, allow more people to speak beyond the 45-minute maximum. Written comments would also be allowed under the changes.
Those speaking on-agenda currently get five minutes each to speak, with those speaking off-agenda getting three minutes each. The current county policy allows for a total of 30 minutes for on-agenda comments and 15 minutes for off-agenda comments.
The proposed changes come as county officials look for ways to streamline public meetings, which often go for hours and have previously been extended to span multiple days because of their length.
District 22 County Board member Vern Tepe said board members want to be responsive to the comments and concerns of constituents, and often do so through one-on-one communication methods like emails and phone calls. But board members also need to be respectful of everyone attending public meetings and their time, he said.
Other board members, including District 8 County Board member Michelle Gumz, said there were other issues that were making board meetings inefficient. She said the goal of streamlining meetings was a great one, but restricting public comment was not the way to go about it.
The policy proposal makes other changes that Kane County Assistant State’s Attorney John Frank said will help to streamline board meetings.
Most notably, zoning petitions would be moved to later in the meeting and executive session, which is closed to the public for board members to discuss sensitive topics like pending litigation or personnel issues, would be moved to earlier in the meeting, he said.
The proposed changes, which were made in consultation with the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office, would help professionals hired by the county to better budget their time by knowing exactly when they will be needed, according to Frank.
He said the changes would also allow routine action items, such as paying the bills for previously-approved actions, to be approved earlier in the meeting so they can be completed in a timely manner.
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
