Earlier this week, a first run-through of Cuyahoga County Council’s tentative new public comments policy -- for meetings both of the council and its committees -- did speed up proceedings, and drew mostly positive reactions, at least publicly, cleveland.com reported. But that doesn’t mean the policy -- limiting speakers to 20, randomly chosen, and with three minutes to speak each -- shouldn’t be tweaked to make it more responsive, more timely, more equitable, and to ensure that those who don’t get to speak at one meeting get priority at subsequent meetings.
Council drafted the policy -- being tested for the rest of this month -- after recent meetings went on for three to four hours, weighted down by what amounted to extended, clashing public exchanges over the Gaza war and whether the county should divest from Israel by selling the $16 million in Israel bonds the county holds.