Mill Creek MetroParks says new policy is not meant to discourage public comment

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mill Creek MetroParks leadership says a new policy restricting public comment at board meetings to current agenda items is not intended to limit residents’ ability to address the board.

“A public entity like Mill Creek MetroParks is never going to eliminate public comment,” said Executive Director Aaron Young. “We serve the people. But in an effort to serve the people in as an efficient and accurate a way as possible, we needed to develop policies that allow us to do that.”

Young, who announced the new policy at a board meeting Tuesday, said the policy was developed after the board was criticized for not doing a good job of taking residents’ concerns into consideration. He said this policy addresses that issue by giving him, board members and staff advance notice of topics “so we can have some educated dialogue.”

“It’s by no means an attempt to limit public comment. ... But we also can’t sit there for five hours every night,” he said. “Showing up to discuss an issue that no one is aware of ... is something that we’d like to limit so we can provide as accurate of information as possible.”

A question some residents have raised is how they will know whether they want to participate in public comment if agendas are only available shortly before meetings begin.