Urbana Mayor Prohibits “Negative” Comments from the Public at City Council Meetings

Urbana Mayor Diane Marlin has initiated a new solution to problems emerging within the City government: simply prohibit the public from making critical comments. Marlin performed a test-run of her new rules for public input at the September 14^th, 2020 Urbana City Council meeting. Marlin chaired the meeting with an iron fist, disallowing public commentary about elected officials, city staff, members of boards and commissions, and even “negative comments”.

Marlin: “You cannot direct comments toward individual elected officials, city staff, volunteer members of boards or commissions, or other citizens. It’s just not appropriate. If you engage in this behavior, particularly negative comments, I will mute you.”

Members of the public were interrupted more than a dozen times because of the new rules, and some were muted by Marlin before they were finished speaking. Marlin also forced members of the public to choose if they wished to speak about an “action item” on the agenda, or a different issue, but not both (and this point was not clarified until halfway through public input).

Council members Bill Brown, William Colbrook, Shirese Hursey, watched in silence as Marlin regulated public input in a way never before seen at an Urbana City Council meeting (or any meeting of a public body in Champaign County, for that matter). Jared Miller and Maryalice Wu very passively expressed concern. Dennis Roberts and Julie Laut were very clearly in favor of the new rules, as each of them took a stab at interrupting a member of the public while they were speaking.

The City of Urbana has seen a seemingly never-ending string of very long City Council meetings over the past 5 months, primarily due to residents demanding accountability by police and other city employees. The lackluster response by the City has often had the effect of agitating residents into giving more criticisms meeting after meeting. Marlin stressed that the time spent on public input was making it difficult to complete other meeting business:

“Our top priority, always, is to get the business of the City done, and that includes addressing and making and working toward the changes that people want to see in our community.”

Marlin then listed a number of possible initiatives moving forward, such as One Door, and GARE (Government Alliance on Race and Equity).

In regards to the “tone” of public commentary, Marlin noted the “intensifying” and “personal” comments “that contributes to an increasingly hostile environment in our meetings…we need to be able to have respectful and open and discussions directed at the issues.”

Unfortunately, Marlin’s new rules did not appear to have the soothing affect that she intended. Members of the public who attempted to speak were frustrated and became angry at the restrictions on their speech. Multiple speakers appeared broken up and disoriented after being interrupted and some questioned the legality of the rules.

There is little question that Marlin violated the public input rules provided in the Urbana City Code, which allows the public to speak for five minutes per person, up to a maximum of two hours (Marlin limited individuals to three minutes each and a maximum of one hour). Marlin said she would be bringing new legislation forward to modify this part of the City Code, but she did not explain what mechanism allowed her to create new rules before the Council had voted on them.

There is also little question that Marlin’s new rules are a violation of the Open Meetings Act, which assures members of the public an opportunity to address public bodies. Public bodies can generally have time, place, and manner restrictions for public speech at their meetings, but they can’t regulate content and they certainly can’t make rules against “negative” comments, as Marlin attempted. Furthermore, the Open Meetings Act requires that any rules limiting public comment be established and recorded – new rules cannot be made up “on the fly”.

The real question is if anyone will actually be held accountable. The current Urbana Council’s propensity for sitting silently on the sidelines appears to be what got them into this position to begin with. The State’s Attorney, Julia Rietz, also has a reputation of looking the other way when laws might be applicable to public officials, especially her friends.

If you find any of this unacceptable, one thing is for certain: you’re not allowed to tell your elected officials, except perhaps very passively through a forced smile. Alas, Marlin has her finger on the button.

Here is a cut-down version of public input at the September 14^th, 2020 Urbana City Council meeting:

The full-length video of the September 14^th, 2020 Urbana City Council meeting can be seen here: