Warren County, IL - Public Speaking Form
Instructions for Public Comment during County Board Meetings, and Committee Meetings.
- A public comment period will be held at the beginning of each regularly-scheduled meeting of the Warren County Board (the Board), and each of the three committees, which are Finance, Buildings & Grounds, and Road & Bridge. Total time allotted for public comment is not to exceed thirty (30) minutes without the consent of the Board/Committee chairperson.
- Anyone desiring to address the County Board, or one of the three committees should submit a public comment form to the chairperson of the Board/Committee of concern, at least fifteen (15) minutes prior to the start of a meeting. Forms are located in the County Clerk’s office.
- Each speaker will be limited to five (5) minutes. A speaker cannot give his or her allotted minutes to another speaker to increase that person’s allotted time.
- After being called upon by the chairperson, each speaker shall begin by stating their name, address, group affiliation (if any), and the specific County matter on which the speaker intends to comment.
- Comments shall be directed to the Board/Committee and not to individual members, or to others in the audience.
- Comments shall be limited to topics that are relevant to the business matters of the Board/Committee.
- Board/Committee members are not obligated to respond to public comments by individuals.
- All speakers are required to speak in a civil tone and refrain from using vulgar, abusive or otherwise inappropriate language when addressing the Board/Committee. Failure to do so may result in disqualification from addressing the Board/Committee and removal from the meeting.
- After the speaker has made his or her statement, he or she shall be seated with no further debate, dialogue or comment.
- The chairperson may interrupt or terminate a speaker’s statement when the comments are too lengthy, uncivil, or if they engage in repetitive comments/questions.
- The chairperson may deny a request for public comment if the request is inappropriate, repetitive, irrelevant to County business or concern, makes specific accusations/references to County employees, is an issue for closed session discussion, or if it is about any ongoing criminal investigation, pending or ongoing litigation. A speaker may also be denied if there are too many speakers for the time allotted for public comment.
- Visual aids will not be allowed. If a speaker wishes to leave a handout for the Board/Committee, they may leave it by the door, so Board/Committee members can choose to take one if desired.
Please submit this form or you can download a copy to print here.