Public Comment Policy

Public Comment Policy

The purpose of this policy is to ensure that interested parties representing various points of view are allowed time to present their views while permitting the Board to conduct their meeting in an efficient and effective manner.

  1. Public comments are permitted during the time designated on the meeting agenda.
  2. The Board President will determine the order in which speakers will be recognized. Unless additional time is granted by the Board President, each person is allowed a maximum of three minutes to speak. Members of the public will not be allowed to speak a second time until all members of the audience who wish to speak have been allowed to do so. The Board President may grant a request to address the Board during other portions of the meeting.
  3. Speakers are invited to share their name, if they so wish, and if representing a group, the name of the group.
  4. Comments shall be brief and to the point and be about library business only.
  5. Personal attacks on Library Board Members or staff members will not be tolerated, nor will language that is considered offensive, harassing, or profane.
  6. The Board may or may not take action on any presented items.
  7. Minutes are a summary of the Board's discussion and actions. Speaker requests to append written statements or correspondence to the minutes will not be honored; written materials presented to the Board will be included in the Library's files rather than the minutes. A brief summary of the public comments will be included in the minutes.

Approved by the Tompkins County Public Library Board of Trustees March 27, 2018

Public Comment Policy PDF