Speaking at Council Meetings

Meetings are generally held the first and third Tuesdays beginning at 6 p.m. in the Council Chambers, second floor, Municipal Building, 1777 Broadway, at the southwest corner of Broadway and Canyon. You have the opportunity to speak to the Council to express your opinions about  city issues. To help accommodate everyone, please follow these rules:

• You may sign up either in-person after 5 PM on the day of the City Council meeting or sign up online through Eventbrite.  Eventbrite sign up (available here) is available after 4 PM on the Friday prior to the meeting through 4:30 PM the day of the meeting.  Everyone who has registered prior to 5:00 PM on the day of the City Council meeting, whether they registered online or in-person, will be put onto a randomized speaking list.  You may still sign up after 5:00 PM, but your name will be added to the end of the list.

• If there are less than 15 speakers for Open Comment, each speaker will be given three minutes to speak.  If there are more than 15 speakers present, each speaker will be given two minutes to speak.Please limit your time to city issues. Be clear, concise, and constructive. This is not a forum for personal attacks.

• If you have prepared a written copy of your statement, or a letter, you may give copies to the city clerk when you approach the podium to speak, and the city clerk will distribute your written statements as you speak.

• Please practice your statement ahead of time and keep it within the time limit. The green light will go on when you begin to speak. State your name (and preferably your address) and be sure to state what you would like to see done (constructive problem resolution). When half of your time has expired, the light will begin to flash.  When you have 30 seconds remaining, the yellow light will come on to warn you that your time is almost up.  When the red light comes on, your time is finished.

• Citizens may not pool time unless you have the express permission of the mayor. Pooled time may not equal the sum total of the time each individual would have had.

• Consent Agenda items and any item not scheduled for a public hearing later in the meeting can be addressed in the Public Participation section of the meeting, between 6 and 6:45 p.m.

• You may only speak once per comment period (once during Open Comment and once during Public Hearing) per meeting.

Council reviews Open Comment and assures that an appropriate response is given if the council feels that a response is required, usually immediately following the Open Comment period.  Staff and council responses are discouraged at the meeting, except for referral to the staff for further analyses and reports and ultimate council decisions on a future agenda. (Boulder Revised Code subsection 2-1-2.II.F.2)

Sign-up through Eventbrite begins at 4 p.m. on the Friday directly before the meeting and will last until 4:30 p.m. on the day of the meeting.  Sign-up in person begins at 5:00 p.m in the City Council chamber unless otherwise posted.

Open Comment allows citizens to speak to the City Council on any city issue not scheduled for a public hearing later in the meeting, for a maximum of three minutes. This includes consent agenda items. Open Comment begins promptly at 6:00 p.m. and ideally concludes at 6:45 p.m. 

We may be unable to accommodate all the people who sign up within the 45 minute time period.  In that case, it is up to the mayor to determine how to proceed. You may be offered the opportunity to speak after the last public hearing item. Please listen to the mayor’s decision on this matter. 

 

Sign-up on blue slips beginning at 5 p.m.

You will need to sign up on a blue half-sized slip of paper. Please indicate which agenda item you are addressing. You will be limited to a maximum of three minutes.

 

Council meetings are televised LIVE on Municipal Channel 8 (Channel 8 in Gunbarrel also) The meeting will be recablecast four times, the next two Wednesdays at 6 p.m. and the next two Fridays at 11 a.m. Council meetings are web-streamed live at the Channel 8 section of the website, click here to access Channel 8's webstream archive.  You can also borrow a DVD of the meeting from the main library, 1000 Canyon.

Last Updated on Thursday, 16 May 2013 07:16