OCEAN CITY — Ocean City Council made changes to public comment citizens can offer, requiring the first of two public comment sessions be reserved only for topics on the agenda.
If citizens want to speak on other topics — and many often do — they will have to wait until the public comment session at the end of the meeting.
The resolution council approved at the April 10 meeting also moved all meetings to 6 p.m. Prior to that, the first council meeting of the month began at 6 p.m. and the second meeting of the month was at 10 a.m.
Public comment has taken place twice during City Council meetings, once for 30 minutes near the start of the meeting and for another 30 minutes at the end of the meeting. Citizens are limited to five minutes, but that time can be reduced to three minutes if there are too many people signed up to speak. Citizens are allowed to speak during both public comment sessions, but they cannot speak on the same topic.
Now, the first comment period will be limited to people speaking on “agenda items only, including ordinances and resolutions.” This does not affect the ability to speak during public comment required as part of public hearings on individual ordinances.
This ordinance notes persons who enter into “personal, impertinent or slanderous discourse or persons who become boisterous or unruly during the discussion” can have their remaining time revoked.
Second Ward Councilman Keith Hartzell said he didn’t agree with limiting the first public comment session to agenda items only and that speakers should be free to talk about any topic during either session.
Hartzell noted he was part of the history of the public comment period coming from late City Councilman Frank McCall. He also noted he was the one to bring in the clock to let speakers know how much time they had. “Imagine that,” he said, poking fun at himself because he has a history of talking at length about multiple issues during meetings.
Hartzell and Third Ward Councilman Jody Levchuk voted against the change. Council President Pete Madden, Vice President Terry Crowley Jr. and Councilmen Dave Winslow, Tony Polcini and Sean Barnes voted in favor. The motion carried.
Holy Week services
at St. Peter’s UMC
OCEAN CITY – Join in at St. Peter’s United Methodist Church during the holiest week of the year.
At 7 p.m. Maundy Thursday, April 17, come and observe this solemn night that begins the hours of Jesus’s betrayal and death.
At noon Good Friday, April 18, the congregation will sit together in the shadow of the cross. This service will include reflections from scripture and the choir choir will perform “The Seven Last Words of Christ” by Theodore Dubois.
There are three services on Easter Sunday. At 8 a.m., join in on the Ocean City Boardwalk at the 11th Street pavilion. Back at the church will be contemporary service at 9 a.m. and beloved traditional service with choir, bell choir and guest instrumentalists at 11 a.m.
“Let’s greet this blessed morning with faith, hope and love!”
Jesus is alive, and that means we can live a new life too! We will tell the Easter story and talk about Jesus’s invitation to life — life to the fullest and life eternal — and how it gives all of us freedom to live a grace-filled and spiritually healthy life!”
– By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff