Interestingly Mark Ross rode out the night with about 2000 more votes than Janet Kennedy. Bradley Jackson looks like he picked up votes from her modest popularity, which when you consider what she paid for her campaign makes Ross’ victory look fairly beaver-colored. Worth A Dam handed him a huge media presence and he had the good sense to benefit from it, so I’ll be expecting my thankyou note any day in the mail. You can check other results here.
MARK ROSS (I) 8,656
BRADLEY JACKSON 4,468
MICHAEL ALFORD 2,141
JANET HAROUTUNIAN KENNEDY (I) 6,398
Our crack team of incumbents will be wasting no time patting themselves on the back, and tonight a change to speaker rules is on the agenda. This will likely insure that everyone will be asleep by the time Menesini stops making the same point. Interestly, the council asked Mercy to investigate the speaker limits, but never had her look up the Brown Act Rules for public comment before closed sessions. Hmm, priorities.
Councilmember Lara DeLaney requested that the Council review the Council Policies and Procedures which were adopted in May of 2006. The Council specifically asked staff to research the time limits policy in which the public is allowed to speak.
While researching this issue staff observed that many other jurisdictions’ restrict time limits to three minutes per person, thus allowing more public participation which facilitates a more fair and efficient meeting. Removing the last sentence in Section “b” Public Comments, would achieve this purpose (see attachment, IV. MEETINGS).
Staff reviewed the agendas for all the cities in Contra Costa County, including the County’s and the Martinez Unified School District, and all agencies have three-minute limits for public comment, with the exception of City of Richmond who has a two-minute limit and the Cities of San Pablo and San Ramon who have a 5 minute time limit.
Alternatives:
A. Move the Public Comment section of the Agenda after the Consent Calendar or before Council Comments. This would allow those members of the public who wish to attend the meeting for a specific agenda item the opportunity to hear the item at a reasonable hour. Those wishing to speak under Public Comment can stay to do so. Below is a compilation of various processes adopted by other cities who only allow each individual to speak for three minutes:
