I read a rumor in the past several hours. The rumor was that certain persons (the infamous “they”) were letting the public know that at a certain meeting scheduled for this coming Thursday at 5 p.m., the public would be told that written county policy about citizens speaking to their elected representatives would be changed.
Supposedly, (1) no candidates for public office in the upcoming November elections (any not currently serving on the elected board) would be allowed to speak during the “public comment” time, and (2) there would be a limit of three persons to speak about the now infamous Fayette Animal Shelter.
Surely, you say, this doesn’t sound like our duly elected officials. Official county commission meeting policies would have to formally changed by a majority vote of the five-member commission. That is highly unlikely, I think.
The existing rules prohibit political speeches on behalf of candidates, but that doesn’t apply to a person who happens to be a candidate rising to speak about a public issue before the board. Please note that three of the five current commissioners — all Republican — have Democrat competitors in the November election.
And there are no rules prohibiting a member of the public from rising to speak about any issue of public concern for five minutes for each speaker, whether or not there are more than one who have the same concern.
So, I think that the current 5-member board will by majority vote — if pushed — uphold the current rules without any last-minute abberations.
That being said, I put on my cynic’s hat for this paragraph. Sometimes politicians do stupid things, especially during election seasons.
Let’s hope that stupid stays outside the meeting room and stays away from those elected to listen to their constituents.
[Cal Beverly has been editor and publisher of The Citizen since 1993.]
