The Santa Barbara City Council has placed a resolution on its Consent Calendar for 2/15/2022 that makes substantial changes to its procedures for weekly Council meetings. (Meeting documents can be found here and here.)

The changes include:

1. Reducing public comment from 3 to 2 minutes, and
2. Moving general public comment behind the Consent Calendar 

The reasons cited for the changes are supposedly to "improve Council’s deliberative process." The deliberative process is about exchanging information in order to consider, and then make a decision. If the Council reduces public comment, or makes it harder to participate in a meeting, the Council would receive less input which would negatively impact the deliberative process.

So, I ask, how does reducing input from the public improve the deliberative process of the Council?

Personally, I am outraged that this item was slipped into the less-viewed Consent Calendar, where it would be overlooked by the majority of residents, and I urge members of the public to protest these changes at this Tuesday’s meeting. (See sample email to the City Council below.)

The first change reduces the public comment time limit from 3 minutes to 2 minutes, and would apply to both a general public comment and any item on the agenda.

Of note, every single city council in Santa Barbara County allots 3 minutes for general public comment and any item on the agenda. Additionally, the Santa Barbara Board of Supervisors and the city councils of Ventura and Oxnard allocate 3 minutes for general public comment and any item on the agenda. 

The second change creates more uncertainty for the public as to when General Public Comment begins. Currently, time is allocated before the Consent Calendar - shortly after 2pm. This gives the public a relatively certain time slot before the Council’s Consent Calendar, which might vary in length if there are any questions from the Council or public comment. 

Importantly, this allows those who have the ability, while working in the middle of the day, a relatively certain time to take a break in order to make a public comment.

Every city council in the county and those of the two nearest major cities in Ventura County allocate time at the beginning, before their Consent Calendar, to hear general public comment.

In addition, after canvasing the council procedures for the other city councils in the County and those of the city of Ventura and Oxnard I discovered that the City of Santa Barbara is the only council that starts its regular meetings at 2:00PM. All other city councils begin their regular meetings at 5:30PM, 6:00PM or 6:30PM. This needs to change.

Why? By setting the regular council meetings at 2:00PM the Council excludes the voices of thousands of residents who cannot attend these meetings during work hours. Unlike the city councils in larger cities in the county and those in Ventura and Oxnard, whose regular council meetings start at 5:30 or 6:00PM, the City of Santa Barbara has set up a barrier to attending this important public meeting.

If you are concerned about the proposed changes to the Council’s Procedures, or that online meeting access may soon disappear (due to changes in COVID-related health orders), or that the City of Santa Barbara fails to post written public comments the Council receives prior to a meeting, please sign the petition. 

Better yet, send an email to the City Council: clerk@santabarbaraca.gov, SBCityCouncil@santabarbaraca.gov with the following requests: 

Subject: Item# 5 RE: Changing Council Procedures

Mayor and City Council,

During Tuesday's City Council Meeting Please vote to:

1. Preserve the Public Comment time period of 3 minutes, 
2. Keep General Public Comment before the Consent Calendar which is consistent will all other city councils in the county,
3. Hold City Council Regular Meetings at 5:30 or 6:00PM to accommodate more members of the public,
4. Make online public meeting access and participation permanent to City Council meetings and all Advisory Boards, and
5. Require that all written public comments submitted to the Council and City Clerk be posted prior to each council meeting.