The Atlanta City Council voted to approve a new rule on public comment at this afternoon’s meeting. Councilmembers Mary Norwood and Felicia Moore introduced the new rule, which would cap time yielded to another speaker at 16 minutes.
Each member of the public can speak to the council for two minutes. However, if a member of the public who signed up to speak before the meeting wishes, they can donate or yield their two minutes to another speaker. This has frequently been done when a large group of citizens has signed up to speak about one particular issue.
Under the new rule, time can still be yielded to one speaker, but that time will be capped at 16 minutes. The cap was originally voted in at 10 minutes, but at the end of the meeting, Moore recalled the legislation and said she had reconsidered and that the cap should be 16 minutes.