Commission narrows public-comment rewrite: written comments must be provided to council and appended to minutes; prerecorded video removed

The Charter Review Commission significantly narrowed proposed changes to public-comment procedures in Section 11.05: it removed the prerecorded video provision and directed that written comments submitted in accordance with city procedures be made available to council prior to the meeting and appended to the meeting minutes for publication.

Commissioners spent more than an hour arguing competing priorities: accessibility for residents who cannot attend in person; the risk of mass email or video submissions that could overwhelm staff and lengthen meetings; and the practical need for a vetted, timestamped submission system. One member described the risk as "opening Pandora's box" if prerecorded videos and unvetted submissions were locked into the charter for five years. Disability-access advocates on the commission argued that written and prerecorded options help voters who cannot attend in person.

On the procedural side, the commission voted to strike the prerecorded-video subsection (11.05(b)). The body then approved wording (as read by the chair) that written comments "timely received in accordance with procedures established by the city shall be made part of the official record," and added that written comments must be "made available to council prior to the meeting" and "appended to the meeting minutes and published." Implementation details — submission deadlines, word limits (the group discussed 350 words), and technical vetting — were left to council policy and staff to design.

The change preserves the commission's effort to increase accessibility and transparency while removing a provision commissioners feared could be abused or be impractical for staff to administer on short notice. The revised language will be included in the packet presented to city council.