People wanting to weigh in on issues at Soldotna City Council meetings now have a new set of rules to follow.
The new policy sets general guidelines for public comments at city meetings to require remote attendees to give the city advance notice if they want to comment at a meeting. Council members adopted the changes last week, which also apply to city commissions and advisory boards. Commission chairs are now also barred from hosting city meetings remotely.
Council member Jordan Chilson sponsored the new policy alongside Mayor Paul Whitney after consulting with city staff. He said the changes were inspired by a conversation about how Soldotna should accommodate remote participation in city meetings.
“In practice, the policy that I'm proposing with the mayor mostly formalizes the way that we're already conducting our meetings,” he said. “There are a couple changes, but they're fairly minor.”
Like other Kenai Peninsula municipalities, Soldotna adopted Zoom software during the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal was maintaining public transparency and access when people were not supposed to congregate. Chilson said he likes the service Zoom provides constituents, but he thinks there are ways to improve the way meetings are conducted.
That includes requiring advance notice from people who want to comment during a meeting, but plan to attend remotely. The new policy requires people to contact the city by noon the day of the meeting to sign up. People planning to attend and testify in person do not need to give the city advanced notice.
Some council members expressed concern at that change. Dan Nelson, for example, said it may hinder constituents’ ability to give input.
“I certainly can see from a meeting operations standpoint and some of those things that that's obviously very easy,” he said. “It just kind of rubs me the wrong way of any kind of impediment to public testimony.”
The council generally favored the new policy. Vice Mayor Lisa Parker said people don’t always understand the process for getting their input to the council.
“It needs to be clear that when people are providing comments on issues that we're talking about that directly affect City of Soldotna and the city residents, those comments need to be submitted either here in person at the council meeting or in writing through the clerk's office or directly to council members,” she said. “Social media doesn't count.”
The policy passed unanimously and is effective immediately. Soldotna’s “Request to Speak” form is available on the city’s meeting website.
