Houston to permanently hold evening public comment sessions once a month

Council member Fred Flickinger, District E, proposed an amendment to change the evening session from monthly to quarterly, stating that he noticed that many of the evening public speakers were the same as the speakers who come to the morning sessions. However, his amendment was ultimately denied in an 8-9 vote.

"I kind of hoped that when we did this, that it would be an opportunity for people who have never been up here to be able to go up there," he said. "Although there have been some of that, the vast majority have been pretty much the same people that we have during the day. Also, I think this would relieve some of the additional burden brought on by staffing it in the evening."

Meanwhile, council member Mario Castillo, who suggested the ordinance in July, said he has noticed that the evening sessions have been "pretty popular." He noted that the average number of speakers has been around 80 since August.

"To me, that's a success," he said. "I don't necessarily have the same experience as council member Flickinger... from my recollection, that hasn't been the case. But, this item has come back with some tweaks to make it a little more amenable to the body."

Those changes to the ordinance include:

• Switching the start time from 6 p.m. to 5 p.m.
• Eliminating proclamations
• Clarifying that the final public session is a non-consolidated meeting

What they're saying

Abbie Kamin, District C, said her constituents have provided positive feedback about the evening public sessions.

"I fully support public meetings in the evenings because that gives people additional access to city hall and that's important," she said. "The spirit of this, the success of this, is a testament to the fact that residents want more engagement from the city."

Joaquin Martinez, District I, said he had some concerns about regularly attending public evening sessions because they clash with civic clubs and community meetings that are hosted at night in his district.

"In my first year, I was able to make almost every civic club for my district tour, which is about a two-month process," he said. "This year, unfortunately, because of the evening meetings, I wasn't able to complete that. So, I do want to make sure that as we provide more access here at city hall... but that we be cognizant of the meetings we have out in the community."

Before you go

Council members also suggested ways to fine-tune the ordinance and enhance engagement during the public evening sessions that were not a part of the ordinance changes or voted on during the Dec. 10 meeting, but are intended to be discussed at a future date.

For example, Kamin suggested changing the start time of the council meeting that follows an evening public session from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Council members Carolyn Evan-Shabbaz and Mayor Pro-Tem Martha Castex-Tatum also suggested utilizing technology to allow public speakers to tune in virtually.