Horry board chairman moving to limit public comments at county council meetings
A proposed ordinance on Horry County Council’s agenda for next week’s meeting appears to restrict how often members of the public are allowed to speak at meetings.
Under the council’s current rules, 30 minutes is reserved at the start of each meeting to allow members of the public an opportunity to address the council on various matters. The rules ask that members of the public tell the council clerk ahead of time that they plan to speak, and on what topic they plan to address. The rules allow each member of the public up to five minutes to speak at the podium.
But under a proposed ordinance filed by Council Chairman Johnny Gardner on the Tuesday, Nov. 16 agenda, those rules would change. The changes would restrict members of the public from addressing the council more often that once every 60 days.
That would mean a member of the public is only allowed to address the council once every two months.
“There shall be no predetermined number of persons permitted to address council during the public comment segment, but in no event shall the thirty-minute allotment of time be exceeded,” the proposed ordinance states. “As a matter of course, no person will be allowed to address council during public comment more than once within any 60 day period.”
Read Gardner’s proposed ordinance here:
That change to the council’s rules wouldn’t affect members of the public who wish to address council on a specific ordinance during the public hearing periods for those ordinances.
It’s not fully clear why Gardner has proposed the ordinance. He didn’t return a phone call seeking comment Friday.
The proposed amendment appears on the council’s “consent agenda,” which means the ordinance will likely receive the first of three approvals it would need to pass, alongside a number of other proposed items. The consent agenda framework allows the council to vote in favor of multiple pieces of legislation in one vote, instead of considering each separately.
Some residents who frequently speak before council, though, said they were incensed by proposed changes.
Katrina Morrison, a Little River resident who said she’s spoken during the public comment period eight times over the past six months, called the proposed ordinance “an interference in the First Amendment.” Morrison is currently suing the county over a development issue in her neighborhood and regularly speaks on other development issues around the county.
She argued that members of the public who are concerned about a particular issue can use the public comment period to address their issue regularly and rally the support of other community members.
“This is what happens, you have a family issue or a community issue...(and) all of the sudden you can’t speak,” she said. “You can go on social media but you can’t speak at county council meetings.”
Morrison said she expects someone to bring a Constitutional challenge to the proposed amendment.
“There’s no way they’re going to get this passed without a constitutional challenge from someone,” she said.
Despite the changes included in the ordinance Gardner filed, the council chairman has regularly expressed his support for the general public comment period at the start of council meetings.
“This is my favorite part of the night, we get to hear from Horry County citizens on Horry County subjects,” he said at the council’s Oct. 19 meeting, introducing the public comment portion of the meeting. “If you are a citizen of Horry County and you have an issue with Horry County, we want to hear from you. This may be the only opportunity from you on your particular issue.”
