Kalamazoo residents will be able to call in and speak during City Commission public comment again this fall, under a policy adopted September 8.
The commission voted to reinstate phone call-ins for public comment, a format that had been discontinued after being used during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the revised rules, residents who are physically present at commission meetings can speak both during the general Public Comment section and on any agenda item up for a commission vote, with the exception of consent agenda items. Residents who call in will be limited to speaking during the Public Comment section only. Both groups will have three minutes to speak, down from the four minutes currently allowed.
City Attorney Aaron Leal told commissioners the two-tier structure was designed around a practical distinction: people in the room can respond in real time to what’s being discussed on a given agenda item, while call-in comments work best confined to the general comment period. Commissioners discussed several related questions, including whether in-person speakers should go before or after call-in speakers, and whether to build in a future evaluation of how the new system is working about three to six months after it takes effect, informally, rather than as part of the written policy.
Commissioner Jae Slaby moved to make the changes effective at the commission’s first meeting in October, rather than immediately, giving city staff time to prepare the call-in process. That motion passed unanimously. The public comment section itself will remain in its current position on the agenda, after communications and before public hearings, a placement commissioners debated but ultimately left unchanged, with some noting that hearing from residents earlier in the meeting has, in the past, shaped their questions and decisions on other agenda items.
