WORCESTER— Residents wishing to speak at Worcester City Council meetings will continue to have a maximum of two minutes to make their remarks. The council voted 8-2 on Tuesday at its meeting to uphold the current time limit, following a recommendation from the Committee on Municipal and Legislative Operations (MLO), rejecting a proposal to extend it up to five minutes.
Council member Khrystian King said he has seen a reduction in public speakers’ time over the course of this council’s term, despite a growth in residents’ civic involvement, and that there should be more consideration given to allowing for longer remarks. He reiterated that longer speaking time could result in more valuable input for the council.
“I support an enhancement in participation,” King said. “We have folks who come before us who may have one or two different items that they want to speak on. Two minutes is just not feasible.”
At many recent meetings, public speakers have gone over the two-minute allocation, even after being asked to wrap up their comments. Others have stopped reading from their notes when they seemingly had more to say.
The debate ultimately comes down to whether fewer speakers should have more time or more speakers should have less time to share their views.
“If you have 30 minutes [for residents] to speak or 60 minutes to speak, and you’re limited to two minutes, you have more people speak,” said Council Member Morris Bergman. “If you expand it to four or five minutes, you have less people speaking. It’s worked well in the 12 years I’ve been on the council. Is it perfect? I don’t know what perfect is, but I do know that we extend and suspend the rules when we feel it’s warranted. If we want to get the maximum number of people speaking, then we have to keep with the two minutes.”
Bergman said some communities also do not allow non-residents to speak, and perhaps Worcester could be more efficient by doing the same.
“I agree that two minutes is good,” said Councilor Jenny Pacillo. “It gives people time to get their point across and participate in government. It gives people time to speak and it gets more people to speak.”
Pacillo added that residents can also speak at standing committee meetings, which might be more focused on the particular issue at hand, as well as e-mailing or making phone calls to participate in how the city is managed.
King, who joined Haxhiaj in voting “yes,” reiterated that some speakers may have very important information, and increasing it by a minute could yield more thoughts that the council could use. He also said encouraging residents to speak leads to better governing.
“I think what we’ve seen, going back to 2020 or so, is a significantly enhanced public participation,” King added. “With that comes civic involvement, with that comes an understanding of local government. Anything we can do to be more transparent and more open, I’m in support of. We have to do what we can. The more participants, the better city we are.”
In addition to voting in favor of maintaining the current speaking time, the council also voted to accept and adopt measures to display rules governing public participation in the council chambers; to add a timer visible to residents speaking at council meetings.
Steve Smith, a veteran reporter with 17 years at The Hartford Courant, now brings his passion for photojournalism to Worcester. An award-winning photographer, he has covered major events like U.S. soccer, pro football, and UConn basketball. He is also the official photographer for the Miss Massachusetts competition and works as a realtor. Contact him at steve@stevephotographysmith.com
