MONTVALE—Speakers would get three minutes at the public microphone, down from the current five if a Pascack Valley Regional High School Board policy change passes on second reading, Feb. 28.
On Feb. 7, trustees voted, 7-2, to limit each speaker to three minutes per public comment period, saying the change — a loss of 40% of the time allowed now — could see more speakers speak, particularly at long meetings.
Trustee Michael Weaver of the Policy Committee said three minutes is about the time required to read a page, or 450 words.
Trustees Pat Luisi and Tammy Molinelli opposed the change.
Generally, board meetings offer the public at least two opportunities to comment: near the beginning and end of each meeting. Under the new rule, citizens could speak up to three minutes at each public comment period.
Molinelli said to her recollection there was only one time, during a four-hour-plus meeting, on the mascot “retirement” issue, that time ran out to hear from all citizens who wanted to speak.
Trustee Kristin Martin said she did not get to speak during one mascot-related meeting and received no response to emails she sent to the district on the same issue.
Molinelli said that allowing each public commenter five minutes per public comment period might allow the board to “mend fences” and show “respect to people who take the time to get into their car and come to a public meeting because there’s something on their mind.”
Molinelli said the board had “a tradition” of allowing five minutes per commenter at each comment period, whether in-person or on Zoom. She said limiting public comment to three minutes each time “is a little counterintuitive to what we’re trying to do in connecting to the community.”
During public comment, Montvale resident Carolee Adams opposed the loss of the two minutes at each public comment time. She asked whether the proposal was related to her more than four-minute homage to Martin Luther King Jr. at the Jan. 17 school board meeting.
Board President Joseph Blundo assured her that the proposal was unrelated. He praised her words on King as “some of the most moving and appropriate comments I’ve heard on my eight years on the board.”
Adams said the state Legislature has a three-minute time limit on speakers, noting “It’s a zoo. This is not a zoo. You know, we’re a community here.”
She asked the board to table the proposal.
“It doesn’t seem reasonable to do it now,” she said, pointing out that the administration and board “went through a total overhaul … because the majority in our community were very much opposed to the lack of transparency, the lack of respect, for input from the public about a number of different items and the way it was not delivered to us. This is not going to be helpful, I don’t think.”
In June 2020, the board voted unanimously to retire the Pascack Hills Cowboy and Pascack Valley Indian mascots, which they said were out of step with the times. The move, and the replacement process, were heavily criticized and might have played a part in the election defeat of trustees who voted to replace the mascots.
After Adams spoke, Weaver, a former Montvale councilman, said a survey taken by the Policy Committee showed 60% of county towns limit public comment to three minutes, including Woodcliff Lake and Hillsdale. River Vale allows five minutes. Montvale has no limit.
Westwood Regional High School District’s board policy set a five-minute limit on individual public comments.
The district’s proposed policy says public participation “shall be governed by the following rules: A participant must be recognized by the presiding officer and must preface comments by an announcement of his/her name, municipality of residence, and group affiliation, if applicable; each statement made by a participant shall be limited to three minutes’ duration; and no participant may speak more than once at each opportunity to speak.”
Other policy restrictions include: “All statements shall be directed to the presiding officer. The board will listen and not answer questions unless an accurate answer is available. If necessary, questions should be addressed in writing to the Superintendent and the Board of Education President.”
Moreover, it says, the presiding officer may: “interrupt, warn, and/or terminate a participant’s statement, question, or inquiry when it is too lengthy; interrupt and/or warn a participant when the statement, question, or inquiry is abusive, obscene, or may be defamatory; and request any person to leave the meeting when that person does not observe reasonable decorum.”
In addition, the proposal allows the presiding officer to: “request the assistance of law enforcement officers in the removal of a disorderly person when that person prevents or disrupts a meeting with an act that obstructs or interferes with a meeting; call for a recess or an adjournment to another time when the lack of public decorum interferes with the orderly conduct of the meeting; and waive these rules when necessary for the protection of privacy or to maintain an orderly operation of the board meeting.”