At a recent Dallas City Council meeting, Mayor Eric Johnson revealed his desire to eliminate the ability for residents to come and share their thoughts during the city government’s “open mic” sessions.
Current rules of procedure for the Dallas City Council allow so-called “open microphone speakers” to address the council before and after every meeting on any topic or issue they desire.
A limited time is allotted to each speaker and the total number of speakers allowed to go before a meeting currently stands at five. The rest must wait to speak upon the conclusion of the meeting’s agenda.
Residents may also speak on specific agenda items during a meeting so long as their comments remain relevant to the topic at hand.
The idea of changing the rules surrounding open mic speakers was first broached in early summer. The council’s five-member administrative affairs committee considered a briefing by the assistant chief of the general counsel division, Bert Vandenberg, during its June 2 meeting.
In the briefing, Vandenberg presented several options, including limiting the time for open mic speakers, restricting them to council meetings designated solely for briefing, and limiting the number of speakers further.
Based on discussion at the recent council meeting, it appears that the most popular path forward amongst members is to limit open mic speakers to council briefing meetings only.
Johnson, however, expressed his desire for the council to end the practice altogether.
The alleged impetus for this change is a belief among council members that residents are “abusing” the open mic speaking rules and procedures.
Open mic speakers are only allowed to address Mayor Johnson when talking; they must refrain from addressing individual council members.
Additionally, speakers before the city council are not permitted to yell, use profanity, or make slanderous attacks.
“I want the public to continue to speak, but I want us to have some ability to shut down that type of language because it keeps coming,” said Mayor Pro Tem and District 4 Councilmember Carolyn King Arnold. “It would be different if it was a one-timer, but when you see a pattern, I think we need to begin to stand up and protect the integrity of our meetings.”
But Arnold’s point of view may run afoul of Texas law, according to an analysis of the law by Senior Assistant City Attorney Cal Estee.
“When a city opens its session up to all topics, it cannot subsequently restrict speech based on subject matter during that open microphone session,” he argued.
This legal reality presents a challenge for the city council members who wish to silence speech they disagree with, appreciate, or find valuable.
Councilmembers Cara Mendelsohn and Omar Narvaez indicated support for the continued availability of open mic sessions for Dallas residents.
Mendelsohn said while the council may have to suffer some antics from time to time, the opportunity for the public to have a moment to impact the city government’s agenda was worth it.
“We’ve also learned some things that have helped us resolve some problems. We’ve helped residents who’ve come here looking for help — items that were not on the agenda,” she remarked.
“So, I view the public comment period as essential to accessible government [and] wouldn’t want to decrease the frequency or put limits on it,” the District 12 representative concluded.
At the same council meeting in which this policy proposal was discussed, local media personality Alex Stein spoke during an open mic session.
Stein admonished Mayor Johnson for having him removed from a previous meeting for speaking directly to council members and using their first names. The self-described professional troll has made a name for himself by speaking at various government meetings.
“It’s a mess,” Johnson said during the discussion. “I don’t really want to be making decisions about what I think is rude behavior.”