Keweenaw amends bylaws
Board hears abundant public comment
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KEWEENAW COUNTY - At its regular July meeting on Wednesday, the Keweenaw County Board of Commissions heard public comment for more than an hour on the topics of zoning issues, a local business, and the county zoning administrator.
Public comments were both for and against the issues of concern. An additional concern later expressed by one of the board members was that none of the public comment topics were on the meeting agenda items.
What was on the agenda, however, under New Business, was a motion to amend the board's Bylaws.
Board Vice Chair Del Rajala entered a motion to amend the bylaws regarding the two public comment periods listed on the agenda of each meeting.
Included in the bylaws are items, numbered 1-15 regarding the structure of the agenda and the procedures of the meetings. Then, there are 19 rules pertaining to the items that follow those.
Rajala said of the 15 items listed in the bylaws that outline meeting structure, there is none regulating public comment beyond the speaker give their name and town.
The rule he proposed, Rule Number 20, would limit the speakers of the first public comment period to only those items on the agenda. During the second public comment period, anyone wishing to address the board can do so on any subject they want to, said Rajala.
"I feel that this needs to be adopted in order to have a more fluid and more productive meeting," Rajala said.
The board agreed and Rajala's motion passed unanimously.