Council members talked Monday night about making possible changes to how they order their weekly meetings, including how to improve the public comment experience.Â
The way it works now, members of the public have an opportunity to speak near the beginning of the meeting on items that appear on the agenda, but are not slated for a public hearing.
Following that, the public can then comment on those items that require a public hearing as they come up at the meeting. Finally, at the end of the meeting the public can make comments on any topic that didn't appear on the agenda.Â
One of the proposed adjustments would be to allow the public to comment on the non-public hearing agenda items as they come up in the meeting, allowing people to speak directly to issues as they are being considered by the council. This would eliminate the requirement that the public only speak about those items during the block of time at the beginning of the meeting.Â
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However, the council would leave in place the block of time at the start of the meeting so that those who wished to address the council early on could do so and not feel like they were required to stay for the majority of the meeting.Â
The council made no move Monday night to make any of the proposed changes. Instead, council members will continue to talk about what they want to see adjusted over the next few months.Â
The order of the council meetings is dictated by city ordinance, meaning any change would require a first and second reading by the council and a 30-day comment period.Â
The suggestions for changes were brought to the council by City Administrator Chris Kukulski, who stressed that they were just suggestions. Kukulski is finishing his first year as administrator in Billings.Â