Public comment will be welcomed at every West Valley City Council meeting, though that almost changed in early June after the council considered only allowing public comment during the first meeting of each month. 

Typically every council meeting has a public comment portion—for up to 30 minutes—early on which allows residents to speak about whatever they like for five minutes. The council recently amended city code which limited that time to three minutes. Many cities around the valley allow public comment each week at three minutes per person. 

In May, one resident who spoke continued to shout comments from the audience after sitting down, prompting him to be escorted out. As a result, the council looked for ways to prevent such action from happening again. 

Initially, the council was to consider a change that would allow public comment only during the first meeting of the month with three minutes allotted to each person that wished to speak rather than the typical five minutes. But the notion received pushback from residents in the next meeting during the same public comment section that would be removed if this change was approved. 

“I understand the need to keep the time brief,” resident Terri Mills told the council. “But I don’t like the idea of limiting it to once a month. People’s lives are busy and you restrict them so greatly on being able to be a part of this process if you don’t open up your meetings and allow more opportunity for the residents to be heard.”

Another resident, Karen Layton, said this change shouldn’t be made based on the actions of one individual referencing the First Amendment for their right to be heard.

“We have the opportunity to address our grievances to you, when you shut out the public, we don’t have a voice,” she said. 

The council altered course choosing to allow public comment in each meeting, but stayed with the three minute time limit. 

The public can also speak on certain items designated as “public hearings.” The council’s unanimous vote also limited those who speak during public hearings to five minutes total per person.  

Other than those public hearings, the city isn’t actually legally required to have a public comment section of its meeting, but most cities still have it. As they should, one resident said. 

“Consent of the governed is very important,” said Quinn Kotter. λ