Listening to Yourself

On April 13th, the Mayor asked about public commentary at workshop meetings. Commissioner Maxwell thought that the public should speak. Commissioner Golden took a tougher line. Below is from the City of Lake Worth web site. Although the allotted time for each participant is probably not up to date, the procedure is clear.

Essentially, Commissioner Maxwell was closer to the official policy.

"Occasionally, the City Commission will schedule a workshop meeting for a specific item that appears likely to take more than thirty (30) minutes to discuss at a regular City Commission meetings. Rules are the same as listed above with the exception of the beginning of the meeting whereby a notepad is circulated to members of the public in attendance requesting the names of all interested speakers on the subject, as public discussion in a workshop meeting is limited to a total of 30 minutes (a maximum of 3 minutes each, or all the speakers divided by the 30 minutes).

No official action of the City Commission is taken at a workshop. Notice of Workshop meetings are publicized at City Hall at least 24 hours prior to the meeting"

But don't worry about it. What you say has no bearing...you will not make one bit of difference or persuade them either way. Usually, you are just listening to yourself talk.