WHITNEY, Texas (KXXV) — Community concerns over the rules about the public comment period led to the questions at Thursday's city council meeting.
- “They can’t discuss personnel matters," said Amy Teal, Alderman for the City of Whitney.
- For the past two years, the city has maintained this policy, and it complies with state law.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Some of our neighbors have been raising concerns about voicing their opinions at City Council meetings, specifically the rules for public comment.
At Thursday's regular meeting, the concerns led to the meeting being canceled.
Our 25 News reporter, Chantale Belefanti, talked to Alderman Amy Teal.
“They can’t discuss personnel matters," said Amy Teal, Alderman for the City of Whitney.
She said she recognizes the restriction on public comment and has received some complaints from residents.
“As far as I know to this day, the city of Whitney never enforced that type of anti-personnel type of issue," said Teal.
For the past two years, the city has maintained this policy, and it complies with state law.
According to the Texas Legislative Council, local governments can have, quote, "reasonable rules" regarding public comment.
State law provides that public criticism of governments and officials cannot be prohibited — but it can be limited to items on the publicly posted agenda.
Teal said the city administrator already addressed the issue in an email.
“Should you continue to believe that the agenda notice violates the Texas Open Meetings Act, you may submit your concerns to the appropriate enforcement authority for an independent review. It’s the appropriate thing, if you think that an agency or a governmental entity is not doing its job what you think they should be doing…you take it up with the next level of enforcement," said Teal.
On the city's website, agendas with this wording date back at least to 2024. We reached out to the
city and have not heard back about when the wording was first adopted.
