Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday will consider making changes to bring general public comment back to the beginnings of meetings for up to five people on a first-come, first-served basis.
During general public comment, community members can speak to the commission about things relevant to city business that are not on the meeting’s agenda.
The Lawrence City Commission on June 4, 2024 voted to move the general public comment period to the very end of each meeting and to no longer broadcast it. This means that sometimes general public comment doesn’t begin until very late into the evening, and many community members have voiced concerns about people who cannot stay that late for any number of reasons, such as school, work, transit schedules, health and more.
After the Kansas Legislature passed a law aimed at ensuring open access to general public comment via livestreams, commissioners voted on June 3, 2025 to no longer livestream their meetings on YouTube at all.
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Meeting recordings are uploaded to the city’s YouTube channel after meetings, but they do not include the general public comment period. The Lawrence Times keeps audio and video recordings of general public comment for the record.
Under the proposed change, the commission would allow up to five people to speak for up to three minutes each near the beginnings of meetings.
Those five would need to register their names, address or phone number, and “the matter to be presented” with the city clerk by noon the day of the meeting. Spots would be granted on a first-come, first-served basis after the agenda is published, which is usually late Thursday afternoons.
“To encourage comment from the entire community, a speaker can only be registered and allowed to speak once every 7th meeting, during this portion of the agenda,” according to the agenda item. “Registrations may not be transferred from one person to another and substitutions for the matters presented are not permitted.”
People can still give public comment about agenda items, and the open general public comment period would continue at the end of each meeting with an added civility pledge:
“Recognizing the diverse backgrounds and perspectives among us, I acknowledge that the principles of democracy play a vital role in shaping and sustaining our community,” the pledge states. “There is no democracy without healthy debate and no healthy debate without dignity and civility; therefore, I pledge to be civil in my comments and treat others with dignity, not contempt.”
The city manager’s report is currently a regular agenda item about which the public can comment. The changes would no longer allow public comment on that report, according to the agenda.
Meeting info
City commissioners will meet at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, April 21 at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St.
The commission accepts written public comment emailed to [email protected] until noon the day of meetings. The commission also hears live public comment during meetings, both in person and virtually.
City commission meetings are no longer livestreamed on YouTube. In order to watch the meeting online remotely, attendees must join via Zoom at this link, which also allows participants to provide public comment virtually. Meeting recordings are uploaded to the city’s YouTube channel the next day.
See the commission’s complete meeting agenda at this link.
Note: This post has been backdated for publication here. It was originally published on a temporary website at the provided publication time while this website was down.
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Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at [email protected]. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
