A resolution on public comment rules slated for Sept. 17 agenda for Whitpain's Board of Supervisors

The Whitpain Township Board of Supervisors recently discussed Resolution Number 1579, which was to establish a Public Comment Policy for future public meetings of the board. However, the matter was tabled until the Sept. 17 meeting, as board members wanted the public to have time to review its contents.

“Previous places where I’ve worked have had such a policy,” said Township Manager Eric Traub. Traub was sworn into his new role in June 2024, having previously worked the last nine years for East Norriton Township as a Finance Director.

Traub said that the ordinance should not be viewed as a negative.

“The point of this, I want to emphasize, is not in any way to limit public comment,” said Traub during the Aug. 20 business meeting of the supervisors. “We had a very helpful and insightful public comment this evening.”

The ordinance is, instead, aimed to “ensure that it is organized” with some “basic ground rules in place.”

“Currently if someone in the public were to come up for public comment, which is our next item, and start reading ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ to us, we don’t have an actual way of like ‘oh, this isn’t germane to us,’ ‘this doesn’t fall within our policy, could you please get to what your ultimate point to the township is’” said Traub.

Instead of a free-for-all open mic, the manager said that some rules of order should be in place for organization and clarity, what he called “some basic kind of guide rails.”

Portions of the same business meeting included a presenter with a Power Point presentation, who had, of his own volition, notified the township ahead of time. However, Traub said, he’d like to regulate a mandate to be sure the board has necessary materials ahead of time.

“You don’t want someone to come up with a USB drive that you don’t know what might be on it, or could have been on it,” he said. Doing so, he said, could also constitute a cyber security threat, as township networks access is limited.

“This policy is attempting to put in place basic rules, which ensure public comment remains an important part of our township meetings,” said Traub. Some of the items outlined in the policy included, for example, a five-minute time limit for each speaker.

“This is longer than a lot of other policies have,” said Traub. Wissahickon School District, for example, has mandates in place to ensure that only five speakers will be heard on the same topic, and each speaker is limited to three total minutes. “We don’t intend, in any way, for this to be the Oscars, where music starts playing, lights start flashing, and you’re ushered off-stage.”

He said that the proposed ordinance is a “starting point for us,” and will be open to future amending as necessary.

“We can tweak the language, we can have feedback as we go forward, based upon our experience,” said Traub.

Alexander M. Glassman, a solicitor from Rudolph Clarke, LLC Attorneys at Law, spoke to his experiences elsewhere, too.

“Most municipalities have a policy like this,” said Glassman. “It’s important to have, especially if someone goes completely off-topic, to things that are unrelated, of sort of having control with a five-minute time limit.”

Glassman said that neighboring townships in Upper Gwynedd, Whitemarsh, Plymouth, and Worcester all have similar language in their meeting policy rules.

“This is pretty standard in most Montgomery County municipalities to have it,” said the legal counsel. Glassman added that it also provides each speaker with the same, balanced amount of time whether they speak first or last. It also adds the requirement of presentation materials, such as Power Points, to be submitted at least 24 hours in advance.

Board Chairman Scott Badami asked if this type of ordinance was a “best practice” for area townships, to which Glassman replied that yes, it was.

Resolution 1579’s approval was a motion presented by Vicechair Kimberly Koch, with a second from Sara Selverian. However, before a vote could be called for on the matter, Supervisor Joyce Keller asked if the resolution had been properly advertised or shared with the public. While it was posted on the evening’s agenda for the Aug. 20 Business Meeting, it was not available prior to the evening’s consideration for adaptation. Keller therefore asked that the matter be tabled, so that the public would have time to view its wording and concepts.

Badami asked if it was Glassman’s legal opinion to table the topic for an additional two weeks.

“That is certainly an option so you can give other residents a chance to read the full text,” said Glassman, who noted that the language was not available online prior to the night’s meeting as other ordinances had been in the past.

Clarification from the township’s staff noted that, as this was a resolution and not an “ordinance,” it was not posted prior to the Aug. 20 meeting. Only ordinance, which include wording being placed into law, are posted for public review ahead of time.

Koch said that, since the topic of the resolution was, in itself, about public comment, it would only be fair to seek the public’s input prior to a vote.

“Since this particular resolution has to do with the public’s ability to interact with this board, I think I would be in favor of tabling it for this week and advertising this resolution with its text,” said Koch. Glassman said, while it did not require the formal, legal notice advertising, putting the language on the township’s website could definitely be done.

“For now, we are going to table item number seven tonight,” said Badami. “We will address it at our next meeting.”

The full resolution is now posted on the township’s website at https://www.whitpaintownship.org/DocumentCenter/View/4550/Resolution---Public-Comment-Policy. During the Whitpain Township Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 3, a work session, Traub said that the resolution was to be posted Sept. 4, and that the topic will be placed on the Sept. 17 business meeting’s upcoming agenda, providing a full two weeks for the public to review its contents.