Guthrie’s City Council on Tuesday voted 5-1 to approve a policy for residents wishing to speak at a City Council meeting.
The new policy allows citizens to sign up and speak only on topics scheduled for that particular agenda.
At their previous Council meeting, several residents were denied the opportunity to speak because their topic was not slated to be discussed.
Mayor Steve Gentling, who was absent from the last meeting, apologized to residents and Council members.
“I would like to apologize to the citizens, to the Council, and ... as the chair of this Council meeting, my responsibility is to conduct the meeting in an orderly manner, and I have been doing that for about eight years,” Gentling said.
“During that time, I have become a little lax on some of the things, and one of the things is public comments. I have let a lot of people make comments that aren’t in alignment with our guidelines, so I failed in that regard a little bit.”
The approved speaking policy includes the following: 1) City of Guthrie residents and/or owners of a business within the city limits may sign in on the “Public Comments and Public Announcements & Recognitions” form to: Make general public announcements about community events and/ or recognitions of positive achievements, or to address an item on the current meeting agenda.
2) If your topic is on the agenda, you will be allowed up to five minutes to address the City Council.
3) Speakers will be heard only upon recognition by the Mayor or Chair, and will address the Council from the podium.
4) Individuals will be required to provide their name and address on the form for the record, but their address will not be publicly stated; before beginning their remarks, they will only be requested to confirm they are either a City of Guthrie resident and/or owner of a business within the Guthrie city limits.
The City of Guthrie encourages participation from all its citizens. If participation at any public meeting is not possible due to a disability, notification to the City Clerk at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled meeting is encouraged to make the necessary accommodations.
The city may waive the 48 hours rule if signing is not the necessary accommodation.
If you wish to speak on something not on the current meeting agenda and/or report a concern, you should contact either the City Manager’s Office or your Councilperson to request consideration to be placed on a future meeting agenda.
Ward 2 Councilman Brian Bothroyd voted against the City Council meeting policy, saying he felt residents who want to address the Council should be able to.
“I have never seen any of this process be done ever,” Bothroyd said. “Everybody has always been able to get up there and speak, and they should be able to. I think they ought to be able to talk about whatever they want to talk about.”
Adam Ropp, who is running for City Council, addressed the Council and said he was approached by several citizens who are upset about the Council not letting residents speak when they sign up to do so.
“They reached out to me and feel this is a way to stifle their free speech,” Ropp said.
Gentling said the policy wasn’t about stifling free speech, but maintaining a policy that relates to an agenda topic.
“It needs to be within some type of structure,” Gentling said. “And the structure is that it needs to be on the agenda. If a person has an issue, they can call the six of us here or the City Manager, and then we can put it on the agenda.”
In other matters: * The Council accepted the resignation of former Ward 3 Councilman Don Channel, and declared his seat vacant. His position for both the balance of his current term and the next four-year term that starts May 1 will be filled by a future appointment from the Guthrie City Council.
For those who might want to consider applying: 1. Must be a U.S. citizen in Oklahoma; 2. Must be 21 or older; 3. Must be a registered voter; 4. Must be a resident of the City of Guthrie for two years immediately preceding the date of the last general election; and 5. Must be a resident of Ward 3.
* The Council also awarded seven individual CDBG-CV3 HVAC contracts to Integrated HVAC in the total amount of $272,062.75. The City of Guthrie received a CDBG-CV3 grant from the Oklahoma Department of Commerce (ODOC) for HVAC and window replacement for a project.
* The Council also approved a final Subdivision Plat for 74 residential lots within the R-1/ PUD (Single-family Dwelling District/Planned Unit Development) for Mission Hills Sec. 2, and awarded a contract to Ozone Roofing in the sum of $66,449.81 for replacing the roof at the Guthrie Public Library.