The “Open Forum” feature of Sartell City Council meetings has been clarified with consent from council members.
One of the members, Amy Braig-Lindstrom requested the clarifications at the last meeting, saying up to five people should be able to speak at an open forum if that many show an interest.
After further discussion, the council agreed upon the following:
Up to five people will be allowed to speak at the open forum, for a length of time not to exceed 15 minutes (three minutes for each of the five speakers).
Residents who want to speak to the council at an open-forum session should – ideally – call Sartell City Hall to give notice to Sartell City Administrator Mary Degiovanni as to which meeting date they would like to speak. However, anybody can still sign up on the day of the council meeting, but they must register by 4:40 p.m. Council meetings begin at 7 p.m. on the second and fourth Mondays of each month.
Open-forum times take place before each council meeting, before the council members begin their business as listed on the official agenda. Each open-forum speaker can have up to three minutes to speak to the council about an issue of concern. At most meetings, there are no speakers for the open forum. However, there have been times where two or three residents spoke.
The open-forum sessions were introduced about five years ago.