An Open and Shut Case?

Cooper City Commissioner John Sims Let me begin by saying Thank you very much to the former commissioners and the executive search firm for their outstanding work regarding candidate submission for the interim and permanent City Manager positions. As a man of great conviction and principal, I believe we must foster open communication, particularly for future issues facing our great city. I fully support public participation in meetings and workshops. The Commission should be listening more to what The People are saying, as promoting effective public participation in our meetings and workshops is paramount. Public meetings should be a forum of ideas so that the Commission may have sufficient input from the citizens, who are affected by its subsequent actions, and the citizen input factor must continue to be an important aspect of all board and commission meetings. The Florida Supreme Court has recognized the publics right to participate in open meetings and to present their views. It said that the public should not be deprived of the inalienable right to be present and heard at all meetings when decisions affecting the public well-being are made. However, while the right of a person to attend meetings has been upheld by judicial review, the question of the extent to which a citizen must be allowed to speak has not been addressed. The importance of public participation in meetings is recognized, but the courts have not set forth clear standards as to what extent a governing body is required to provide for public participation. The Court stated that with regard to certain types of meetings, there may not be a right for a member of the public to speak. It said nothinggives the public the right to be more than spectators and the public has no authority to participate in or to interfere with the decisionmaking process. A board or commission may adopt reasonable rules and procedures to ensure the orderly conduct of meetings and require orderly behavior for persons attending including limiting the time an individual speaks and the subject-matter content while addressing the panel. The Commission has the authority to regulate irrelevant debate, disruptive behavior or impertinent commentary, and has the right to deny citizens the opportunity to voice personal or public opinion. Commission meetings may be restricted to specified subject-matter and reasonable time, place, and manner rules and regulations. They do not violate a speakers First Amendment rights as there is a significant governmental interest in conducting orderly, efficient meetings. Commission meetings serve the sole purpose of conducting city business and are not for the purpose of providing a venue to express personal or political views. The First Amendment guarantees the right to freely speak on-line or otherwise, but does not guarantee the speaker a public, government hosted forum. On the other hand, criticism of the electorate is needed to insure that elected officials understand what the voters/taxpayers want and don't want, particularly in these trying times. I encourage, support and welcome your thoughts on how Cooper City can become more receptive to residents. 500 words