Coppell City Council sets new speaking time limits for public comments

The rules concerning the citizens’ appearance portion of Coppell City Council meetings have changed.

Council members approved a new three-minute speaking limit for individual speakers, with provisions to adjust the time limit if more than 30 speakers sign up to give public comments, based on language in the adopted ordinance. The change was greenlit during the Oct. 22 meeting.

What’s happening

With the new three-minute limit, council members did away with a cap on the total citizens’ appearance time for all speakers, which used to be 20 minutes. Speakers previously had two minutes and could request a two-minute extension, which had to be approved by a majority of council members.

Mayor pro tem Kevin Nevels said he liked the new three-minute limit because it simplifies some of the procedures, which previously included the process to request a two-minute extension.

“I love the idea of streamlining the process to three minutes, no interruption,” Nevels said.

As part of the adopted ordinance, if more than 30 speakers sign up, the speaking times may be adjusted to no less than one minute per speaker.

What they’re saying

• “We, as elected officials, should listen to them,” council member Biju Mathew said in opposition to the adjustments for more than 30 speakers. “These are the opportunities to hear from all residents. Nothing is broken, we should not fix it.”
• “I think that that is a piece of it that is broken because once 20 minutes is up in citizens’ appearance, we shut it down,” Nevels said. “I think this does allow more speakers to speak, and I don’t think we should limit the number of people who should speak.”