City Council Heatedly Debates the Public Input Process During City Meetings

A proposal to change the public comment process at Los Alamitos City Council meetings triggered a heated debate Monday night amongst the City Council, forcing city leaders to talk openly about the animosity between the council’s two political factions and their supporters.

Accusing Mayor Ken Stephens of maligning his critics and allowing his supporters more time to speak during the public comment period at council meetings, City Councilwoman Gerri Graham-Mejia asked the council to consider a process that allowed more public input on issues before the council.

In turn, Councilman Troy Edgar, a frequent opponent of Graham-Mejia on hot-button city issues, accused her supporters of being uncivil at council meetings and using the public comment period to lob personal attacks at city leaders.

In the end, however, the City Council managed to find room for a compromise on the issue. In a 4 to 1 vote, the council changed the city’s public comment policy to allow community members to speak for up to three minutes on each item before the City Council. Previously, speakers were allowed a one-time allotment of five minutes at the start of each council meeting, and Graham-Mejia had sought to give speakers up to five minutes on every item before the council.

City Councilwoman Marilynn Poe was the lone dissenter in voting against the switch.

“I just don’t see any reasons to lengthen our meetings by having people come up over and over,” said Poe. “A lot of the time the political comment or public comment often get in the way of the business.”

A new format for public input would improve the process, countered Graham-Mejia.

“If people are dissatisfied with what is going on, that is the business of the city,” she said. “The people who support us, who have different views are suddenly the villain… At what point do we say this is censorship?”

Edgar charged some residents with abusing the public comment period with frequent and uncivil rants.

“This is not a matter of us allowing the residents to speak. It’s a matter of how much time we are giving them to speak,” Edgar said. “I think there are a lot of personal attacks.…I sit up here and just take it.”

Councilman Warren came up with the compromise of allowing members of the public multiple opportunities to speak at council meetings but only for three minutes at a time.

“I think, as a policy issue, we need to find common ground,” said Edgar, adding that he would vote for the compromise, “in hopes that the community will do their part and keep the personal attacks out of it.”