La Salle council enacts rules for public comments

Residents giving public comment at La Salle City Council meetings will need to be succinct moving forward.

The City Council approved an ordinance Monday allotting no more than 5 minutes per speaker and limiting the public comment period to 45 minutes.

Since the Jan. 11 fire at Carus Chemical, the council has conducted meetings every two weeks with a handful of public comments and no time restrictions placed, leading to some meetings longer than two hours.

The new ordinance also legislates speakers to refrain from making vulgar, insulting or inappropriate remarks toward or about any member of the public body, any employee or officer of the city or any member of the audience. Any person who poses a threat to public safety will removed from the meeting, according to the new rules.

La Salle Mayor Jeff Grove said he asked Deputy Clerk Brent Bader to research how other communities handle public comment, with Bader finding all neighboring communities have at least some guidelines for public comments.

Peru allows comments from a resident for up to 3 minutes, Oglesby up to 5 minutes and Spring Valley for up to 2 minutes.

The council voted 7-1 in favor of the new ordinance with Alderman Bob Thompson voting against the new rules.

Despite admitting he was initially opposed to the idea, he told the council he wasn’t against setting guidelines on public comment, but he didn’t care for some of the language in the ordinance. He believed it was left up to too much interpretation. He said he would’ve voted in favor of the motion if “the public body shall be expected to conform to conventional standards of decorum” was removed, as well as the words “civility” and “obscene” in the sentence “Each speaker must maintain civility and cannot disrupt an orderly meeting by using obscene or threatening language or gestures.”

Alderman Jordan Crane said he believes it still is important for residents to speak their minds. He said he was was in favor of guidelines, noting the council can use its discretion to allow comments go longer if they are productive.

La Salle resident Jamie Hicks, who has commented at meetings since the Jan. 11 fire, said he didn’t agree with the council restricting people’s voices, especially if they are speaking on a sensitive matter, such as the fire’s aftermath. Hicks said he didn’t agree with La Salle conforming to how other communities handle public comments. He said the mayor has often said La Salle is different than other communities, because it has allowed for a town hall style meeting with the public interacting freely with the council. Hicks admitted his comments have crossed a line at times, as well as others, including the council, but he believed it was the nature of discussing a sensitive topic, such as the Jan. 11 fire.