Angie Arp’s Citizen Comment Changes on Agenda

On February 10^th, FetchYourNews.com reported that Angie Arp was making last minute attempts to change Citizen Comment rules for Blue Ridge City Council meetings. Now, the Citizen Comment rules are on this week’s agenda at the Blue Ridge City Council meeting on Tues. March 1^st at 10 am.  This means that the changes will be voted on at the March 8^th meeting of the Council.

The changes Arp, along with support City Attorney David Syfan, wishes to make to the rules are to reduce citizens’ comment time from five minutes to two minutes and curb the contents of what citzens can speak about.  The proposed regulations will state that comments cannot express “criticism and discord toward elected or appointed officials” or City employees.  Public comment must only be about “matters of the City.”  Also, in the proposed regulations, citizens cannot directly question the Council during the Citizen Comment time.  Instead, citizens must direct their questions through private, non-public channels such as individual phone calls, letters or emails to Council Members.  Proposed changes also regulate audience behavior.  Audience members can’t clap, cheer, make opposition gestures or other disruptive actions.  Only two Council members need to feel that an opposition gesture or disruptive action has been made for an audience member to be kicked out of the Council meeting and possibly be fined.  In other types of Council votes, it takes a majority of Council votes, which means at least three votes, in order for action to be taken.

In comparison with the Fannin County Board of Commissioners, Blue Ridge City Council’s meetings already restrict citizen comments.  At the Board of Commissioners, any citizen can speak during the Citizen Comments segment of the meeting.   However, at City Council meetings, citizens must sign up for a slot at least five days prior to Council meetings.

Arp’s proposed changes arise during an interesting juncture in the ongoing Blue Ridge City Council inquiry.  She began the groundwork for changing citizen comments just five days after Jarrard and Davis released their findings to the Council.  The findings state that there is an ongoing insurance fraud investigation center around the Council, murmurings that a city department has not fully disclosed all money it handled in cash transactions and a hint at possibly illegal ethics violations surrounding zoning decisions made by Council members.  Remarkably, Arp began her maneuvers to change Citizen Comment rules on Sunday morning, Feb. 7^th at 2:03 am so that she would have concise and correct wording prepared for the 10 am Feb. 9^th meeting of Blue Ridge City Council.  The Feb. 9^th meeting did not take place due to snow and ice conditions.

Blue Ridge residents Jack Morton, Nancy Page, Cindy Trimble, Bobby Bearden and Carlie Hammond will speak Citizen Comments segment of the meeting.  They will have five minutes to speak.