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Commissioners Might Hear Public First At Meetings

By Carl Orth | The Suncoast News

Published: December 18, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - Can we talk?

Pasco County commissioners today considered but took no action on possible changes to encourage more comments from the public at their biweekly meetings.

Right now public comments come at the end of the County Commission meeting agenda. That forces people to wait, sometimes for hours, for a chance to speak their minds on any topic, Commissioner Jack Mariano noted during today's meeting.

Mariano suggested letting the public speak at the start of the commission agenda. A regional transportation board he serves on does it that way, he said.

Tampa Bay Water, the Clearwater-based regional wholesale water utility of which Pasco County is a member, also lets the public get up and talk at the start of its governing board meetings, Commissioner Ann Hildebrand said. Hildebrand is a Tampa Bay Water board member.

The idea of moving the public comment portion of the agenda has come up before, Commissioner Pat Mulieri recalled, but never went anywhere.

Public comments can take from 30 to 45 minutes at Tampa Bay Water meetings, County Administrator John Gallagher observed. County Commission meetings can now go into overtime, even without what could become an extended public comment session, he said.

Commissioner Michael Cox said he would consider experimenting with hearing public comment at the start of the morning session of the Tuesday commission meetings, which starts at 10 a.m. It might be impractical to have public comments at the start of the afternoon session, which begins at 1:30 p.m., Cox said.

In addition, the county advertises public hearings on agenda items for 1:30 p.m. and by law must adhere to the time advertised, Cox said.

"I'm all for it to get people involved," Commission Chairman Ted Schrader commented. Before deciding whether to switch the public comment time, however, he wants to know more about the logistics of the change, he said.

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