Orange County NC Website
Approved 11.4.20 <br /> 280 Kim Piracci: I don't like that motion, I think that the public should, more people should be able to speak at the second <br /> 281 meeting, if they want to. We might limit it so that there's not a third meeting. That ends but ..... <br /> 282 <br /> 283 David Blankfard: If they want a chance to speak they can only do written comments. <br /> 284 <br /> 285 Kim Piracci: I don't like that. <br /> 286 <br /> 287 David Blankfard: No one knows at the beginning of each meeting if the meeting is going to run long. I think we need to <br /> 288 limit it. You get one chance and it's at the first meeting and if you come in late then you get to write in. <br /> 289 <br /> 290 Carrie Fletcher: This is a highly emotional issue for many people and I'm sure zoning and planning is going to be an <br /> 291 emotional, personal issue for a lot of people. I think that we, as public servants, should listen to them. I don't particularly, <br /> 292 even without hearing a lot of the conversation, say that we are going to deny certain people who haven't been at the other <br /> 293 meeting, as myself being late tonight, missed the boat and you don't get a chance to speak. I think everyone has a right to <br /> 294 speak. I could see capping a time that we can only go before a certain time and if that doesn't work then we're going to <br /> 295 have to have another session and let the people speak. I think that's our obligation. <br /> 296 <br /> 297 Randy Marshall: The presumption here is that we have a public hearing, and that lots of people have signed up and if we <br /> 298 had the meeting last until everyone had a chance to speak, there would not be a second meeting. The reason for the <br /> 299 continuance is to allow us to get home at a decent hour and for everyone to have a chance to speak. It's not to start over <br /> 300 and have a second public hearing. It's a continuation of the first public hearing and if you continue to set it up as a second <br /> 301 public hearing,you're just going to continue to add more and more people. It's not that we're discouraging anybody from <br /> 302 speaking but your opportunity to speak comes with the first meeting. If you didn't get to speak at the first meeting and you <br /> 303 signed up then you can speak at the second continued meeting but it is still considered the one meeting, it's just takes <br /> 304 place over 2 different evenings and is not an opportunity for more people to jump in that didn't originally indicate they <br /> 305 wanted to speak. <br /> 306 <br /> 307 David Blankfard: This is the way that the Board of County Commissioners does it so there is some precedence. <br /> 308 <br /> 309 Hunter Spitzer: People who missed the opportunity to sign up at the first meeting and can't speak at the potential <br /> 310 continuance would still have the opportunity to submit written comments, correct? <br /> 311 <br /> 312 David Blankfard: That's right. <br /> 313 <br /> 314 Craig Benedict: And if they miss speaking at the neighborhood meeting and the Planning Board then they still have the <br /> 315 opportunity to speak at a public hearing in front of the Commissioners. <br /> 316 <br /> 317 Perdita Holtz: We're going to have to have tighten it up and run it more like the BOCC that people have to sign up in <br /> 318 advance to get on the list to speak. The way it was being run, anybody could sign up for the Zoom meeting and then if <br /> 319 they wanted to speak they would just raise their hand on the Zoom platform but we're going to need to know in advance <br /> 320 how many people want to speak on each item. We're going to need to require an advance sign-up. The Clerk's Office <br /> 321 allows people to sign up until 3 p.m. on the day of the meeting and that's their cut-off time. I will find out more information <br /> 322 from the Clerk on exactly how they run that so we can mimic it. <br /> 323 <br /> 324 David Blankfard: Right now we have a motion on the table that says that we are looking at setting the time limit at the <br /> 325 beginning of each meeting and the people that have signed up to speak at that time will determine who gets to speak <br /> 326 during that time and who gets to speak at a subsequent meeting, the subsequent meeting will be determined by the Board <br /> 327 and between those two meetings the public can write comments. <br /> 328 <br /> 329 MOTION by Randy Marshall that at the beginning of each meeting,the Board will determine when they plan to recess and <br /> 330 take a log of the number of people who want to speak and we will determine who will speak that night,the Board will <br /> 331 determine when we will have a continuance to hear the remainder of the people signed up to speak on the topic. In <br /> 332 between those two meetings anyone who is registered to speak can instead write what they want to say. The final wording <br /> 333 will be determined by Chair and Vice-Chair. Seconded by Kim Piracci. <br /> 334 <br /> 335 <br />