Strategies for Managing Difficult Public Meetings
March 27, 2024
by
MRSC Insight
Category:
Legislative Body
,
Public Participation
From time to time, governing bodies are faced with conducting controversial, emotionally charged, meetings where tensions are high, and tempers may flare. Such meetings can test the members of the elected body and agency staff, but conflict and controversy can also make a positive contribution to a local government’s decision-making processes.
Thankfully, local governments can adopt a few tried-and-true meeting strategies to manage or reduce meeting distractions. Here are some steps you can take before, during, and after difficult public meetings to make them less stressful and more productive for everyone.
Before the Meeting
Below are some items to address before your meeting.
Consider your meeting agenda
A comprehensive, well-prepared meeting agenda can keep things moving along while ensuring all participants are on the same page. For example, an agency can minimize time spent on routine or noncontroversial issues by adopting a consent agenda, allowing more time for discussion and reflection on important issues.
Agencies should also consider where to place a controversial issue on a meeting agenda. If you know that a particular item is likely to generate significant controversy and a larger than normal audience, consider moving it to the top of your agenda so that attendees are not forced to wait, adding to their frustration.
Adopt procedural rules
A governing body should adopt and follow council or commission rules of procedure, including Robert’s Rules of Order. Clear, easy-to-understand ground rules can go a long way toward maintaining order and civility. Local governments can also post comprehensive procedural rules (e.g., Tukwila), public participation guides, (e.g., Redmond) or abbreviated guidance (e.g., Woodland).
Since the public comment period at a public meeting is considered a “limited public forum” for free speech purposes, a local government can regulate the time, place, and manner of speech, provided such regulations are reasonable and content neutral. Such reasonable regulations may include:
- limiting speaker remarks to a certain number of minutes,
- limiting speaker remarks to items on the agenda, and/or
- requiring participants register to speak.
Add informal outreach
When considering a controversial project or proposal, think about adding some informal educational sessions early in the process to provide ample notice, identify, and address initial concerns and to avoid any complaints that the governing body is trying to “ram through a decision.” Such meetings can also help address misinformation on the project/proposal.
Provide early access to information
Many Washington local governments maintain webpages (or websites) for their governing bodies, offering information on councilmembers/commissioners, upcoming meeting agendas and packets, agency news, recordings of prior meetings, and more.
Agencies should also have enough printed copies of key meeting documents available at the meeting site.
Offer alternatives to public speaking
Agencies should invite comments on key issues by email or print letters and acknowledge their receipt and entry into the record for those who are not comfortable with making comments at the meeting. Another option is a virtual public comment form so folks can sign-up in advance to speak during a meeting. For example, Seattle requires members of the public to sign up to make in-person or remote comments during council meetings.
Requiring individuals to sign-up in order to make a public comment is also useful in getting a sense of who and how many intend to speak and to determine the order they will be speaking in. Keep in mind these sign-up sheets or forms are subject to public records disclosure, so carefully consider how much information you require. Additionally, having a staff member greet attendees onsite at the sign-up table can create a more welcoming atmosphere for participants.
Also note that after a slate of racist and disruptive “Zoombombing” occurred during local government meetings across the state, some agencies, (e.g., Seattle, Lynnwood, Kenmore, Shoreline) require remote commenters to sign up 24 hours before the meeting in the hope that this requirement will deter bad actors.
Have the meeting site and equipment ready
If a topic is on the agenda that your agency knows will draw a large crowd, be sure adequate seating is available, or move to a larger venue. Also be sure to run a pre-meeting check of all your audio-visual or other equipment needed to avoid any unnecessary delays. This includes reviewing critical privacy and security settings for your remote meeting software, such as Zoom.
During the Meeting
During your meeting, consider using the following steps to keep things running as smoothly as possible.
Start by offering a meeting overview
Begin by explaining the purpose of the meeting, the order of business, and what actions, if any, are expected to be taken by the conclusion of the meeting.
Establish ground rules
The meeting chair should start the meeting by explaining the ground rules, including the values and behaviors that everyone will be expected to adhere to (respecting others’ opinions, not interrupting, refraining from any personal attacks, etc.). Provide clear instructions of how to participate and what to expect since it may be the first interaction for some participants with local government.
Consider including a briefing
Agency staff can prepare a brief overview and background presentation to help provide context, dispel rumors, address misinformation, and clarify understanding, especially for controversial or complicated topics. Presentations from external sources can also help.
Restrict back-and-forth dialog
The meeting chair should clarify that during the public comment portion of the meeting members of the governing body will listen but not engage in back-and-forth dialogue with commenters. If a question arises during public comment, the governing body can ask agency staff to investigate the issue and report back.
Take a break
Meeting breaks can help to ease tensions and regroup when appropriate. Time gives attendees a chance to calm down and can allow the agency to restore order.
Deal with serious disruptions
If a break does not work to restore order and other techniques are not successful, governing bodies do have the authority to maintain order up to and including removal in certain circumstances. For more on this, see MRSC’s blog: When First Amendment Rights and Public Meetings Clash.
The Special Role of Elected Officials
Elected officials play key roles in helping to maintain meeting order and decorum by:
- Leading by example — Your behavior towards other members of the governing body, staff, and the public should model the behavior that you expect from everyone attending the meeting.
- Being prepared — Know your facts and be truthful. Credibility is your most important asset in responding to criticism and conflict.
- Giving speakers your full attention — Refrain from using cell phones, having side conversations, or engaging in other distractions that could be interpreted as hostile or dismissive. For other ideas, see MRSC’s blog: Building Trust During Polarizing Times.
- Explaining limits of legal authority — Clearly explain those instances when requests or demands are beyond the scope of local government authority. Your legal counsel can be helpful in these instances. No one gains from needless debates over positions that have no legal path forward.
Elected officials should also keep in mind that anger expressed in difficult meetings is most often directed at your position and not at you as an individual.
After the Meeting
After a difficult meeting (or any meeting really that involves a proposal or project that involves significant community impacts), consider following up with these actions:
- Summarize meeting outcomes — Post meeting outcomes to your website and/or send out an email update summarizing the meeting’s purposes, objectives, and outcomes.
- Respond to issues that could not be handled during the meeting — Follow up with any commitments made during the meeting, such as having staff provide answers to questions that could not be addressed during the meeting.
- Communicate next steps — Outline any planned next steps, including expected milestones and a timetable for future actions.
- Develop opportunities for further outreach — Does your agency offer community members a way to stay up to date on news? Create an email list for those who want to receive updates regarding any future milestones and opportunities to be heard.
Conclusion
Controversy and conflict, while stressful, can also help to frame community issues more broadly and provide a greater variety of perspectives. This may be particularly true as local governments work to become more inclusive of groups whose voices may not have been heard as much in the past.
Providing a fair and complete hearing of issues at council or commission meetings assures that everyone's viewpoints are thoroughly considered in decision-making processes. How the governing body responds and reacts to public participation will have a direct impact on the level of community trust in local officials and the agency in general.
For more information, readers may be interested in other MRSC blogs on the legislative body or public participation.
MRSC is a private nonprofit organization serving local governments in Washington State. Eligible government agencies in Washington State may use our free, one-on-one Ask MRSC service to get answers to legal, policy, or financial questions.