With mouths taped shut, dozens of people sent a strong message at Monday night’s Lorain City Council Committee meeting.
Messages scrawled across the tape read, “Listen,” “Change,” “Freedom of speech” and more.
The silent protest was staged by constituents who are pushing for a rule change to Lorain City Council meetings that would allow for a public comment portion.
Currently, residents are only allowed to speak at committee meetings, which Lorain Councilman Joe Koziura believes should be enough.
“They can call their legislative offices, they can call the mayor. If this were to ever come to a vote, I would tell the chairman to vote no,” Koziura said.
However, in 2015, more than 80 percent of legislation was passed in general council meetings, where residents are not allowed time for public comment. That’s why Councilman Joshua Thornsberry began a petition and brought up the rule change in Monday evening’s meeting.
The plan has specific guidelines so meetings do not get out of control — residents would be allotted 20 minutes before council meetings about topics on the agenda and 10 minutes at the end of the meeting.
“It’s not until 2 o’clock in the morning, it’s just a little bit longer,” Thornsberry said. “And I think a little bit longer is certainly reasonable.”
The rule change was not passed to a vote — it will be brought up for discussion at another committee meeting on Feb. 22.
Every other major city in Northeast Ohio — with the exception of Cleveland — allows for public comment either before or after city council meetings. So do Cincinnati and Columbus city councils.
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