At the Council’s May 7, 2019 regular meeting, the Council directed the city manager to place a resolution on the agenda for the May 21, 2019 Council regular meeting regarding potential changes to the Council’s regular meeting public comment policy, which is contained in Section I of the Rules of Procedure of the Yakima City Council (Rules of Procedure).  As per Section N of the Rules of Procedure, amendments to the Rules of Procedure must be adopted by two-thirds of all members of the Council. 

Because two of the seven Council members were going to be absent from the May 21, 2019 Council regular meeting, the resolution regarding the Council’s public comment policy has been placed on the agenda for the Council’s June 4, 2019 regular meeting.

Were the proposed resolution regarding the Council’s regular meeting public comment policy adopted, public comment slips would only be accepted by the City Clerk before the consent agenda is read, if between 10 and 19 public comment slips are submitted for an individual agenda item, each speaker’s time limit for that item would be reduced from three to two minutes, and if 20 or more public comment slips are submitted for an individual agenda item, each speaker’s time limit for that item would be reduced to one-and-a-half minutes.