The Guthrie City Council Tuesday voted in a 4-2 decision allowing Guthrie residents and business owners to be given five minutes to speak during the public comments of a Council meeting.
Mayor Steve Gentling and Vice-Mayor Jim Case voted against the motion that reversed Council policy that prohibited people from speaking before the Council unless their matter was an agenda item.
Ward 2 Councilman Brian Bothroyd brought the matter before the Council saying that the public has a right to speak.
“I believe in city government, obviously, and I believe in our federal government, state government, believe in at all, but I do believe in making communication between constituents and this Council extremely easy and simplified,” he said. “I don’t believe it needs to be on an agenda unless it is a certain item that is going to require action, and then it needs to be an agenda item. But if it's just something that the citizen wants to discuss with the Council, then it's my position that they should.”
At a previous Council meeting, several citizens signed up to speak on four separate topics.
The first to be called to speak was Lisa New with Helping Community Paws and Claws — a non-profit organization that spay and neuter animals to help with the overpopulation of unwanted animals.
New, who had discussed the animal issue at several previous Council meetings, was ultimately denied a chance to speak on the matter at that meeting.
Bothroyd apologized to New, and others that were denied an opportunity to speak because their issue wasn’t an agenda item.
“I want to apologize to everybody who signed up,” he said previously. “I don’t believe in squelching anyone’s voice for anything. They should have been able to talk.”
New addressed the Council on Tuesday asking them to let the public speak.
“You need to hear from the people of our city,” New said. “We need to listen, no matter how invalid you may think we are, and we need to address them in a compassionate way, being able to speak freely for what being an American is all about, (which) is freedom.”
Gentling said he was in favor of letting people speak, but preferred to have a policy that it must be on an agenda item.
“If it is an issue germane to our city government and our city council, then they have an opportunity to engage the city council and the city manager with that issue,” Gentling said.
In other matters, the Council approved the up-fitting of four police vehicles at a cost of not more than $30,000 each; and confirmed the mayor’s nominations of Jamie Newton and Tammie Riggs to the Guthrie Library Board for a three-year term through May 31, 2026, and Samantha Stewart to the Guthrie Library Board for a two-year term through May 31, 2025.
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