Piqua City Commission Changes Their Meeting Rules

The new rules are made at a special meeting of the commission

Earlier this summer, the Piqua City Commission adopted a new set of rules for how their meetings would entertain comments from the public. This publication went at length to talk about these rules in a previous edition of this newsletter:

Last week, in what can be described as a hastily called meeting of the City Commission, the group took two important measures, after a closed-door executive session.

The first measure amended those rules for commission meetings that were set up earlier this year. The changes that were made were fairly substantive in their nature.

1. The time allotted for members of the public during the non-agenda public comment period were extended from five minutes to seven minutes. Furthermore, if questions are asked by the public, the time taken by elected or appointed officials to answer questions is not counted against the seven minutes afforded the public.

2. Non-agenda public comments are now afforded to anyone within Miami County. Previously, only residents of the city, or those who owned property or a business in the community, could speak.

3. Individuals attending the non-agenda public comment period may hold signs that are no larger than 8 1/2” by 11” and the signs can not obstruct the view of others attending the meeting or obstructing the views of cameras recording the meeting.

The second measure adopted by the City Commission granted permission to the City Manager to enter into a settlement agreement in regard to a cased filed in the federal courts. Earlier this year, four citizens filed suit against the city claiming that their constitutional rights were violated by the City.

Though the City of Piqua, specifically denies any liability in the legal matter, the City does believe it is in the best interest to enter into an agreement with those citizens. Upon the execution of the agreement, the federal lawsuit will come to an end.

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