Lawrence city commissioners on Tuesday agreed that they want to move general public comment to the beginning of one meeting each month.
During general public comment, community members can speak to the commission about things relevant to city business that are not on the meeting agenda. The commission in June 2024 voted to move the general public comment period to the very end of each meeting and to no longer broadcast it.
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, kids, transit schedules, health and more.
Under changes commissioners approved Tuesday, they will meet starting at 5 p.m. rather than 5:45 p.m. during the second meeting of each month.
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The 45 minutes of general public comment will allow approximately 15 speakers if each uses their full three minutes. If the public comment period does not fill the entire 45 minutes, the commission will adjourn until 5:45 so people would not miss the beginning of the regular agenda.
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The commission’s other meetings, held on the first and third Tuesdays of each month, will still include general public comment periods at the ends of the meetings.
Chris Flowers, a Lawrence resident who frequently gives public comment, told commissioners he hopes they’ll also consider broadcasting meetings on YouTube again.
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. 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.
Using Zoom allows people who attend meetings virtually to give public comment, but it adds extra steps that are not necessary to just watch a meeting that is streaming on YouTube.
“I don’t like using Zoom if I just want to watch and see what’s going on,” Flowers said.
Commissioner Kristine Polian said she thought it was vital that the public be able to talk to the commission.
She said she thought the changes proposed Tuesday were a step in the right direction, and “I am very excited at the idea of us streaming live again on YouTube and not just Zoom. I hope we can get there,” she said.
Mayor Brad Finkeldei, Vice Mayor Mike Courtney, Commissioner Mike Dever and Polian all voted in favor of the changes. Commissioner Amber Sellers was not present for the meeting.
The changes will go into effect June 1, so the commission’s first meeting with 5 p.m. general public comment will be Tuesday, June 9.
The changes also apply general public comment rules to the city’s advisory boards. Not every board limits general public comments to three minutes per person, but the revised resolution states that three minutes will be the limit “Unless specifically modified by the presiding officer.”
With the changes, the city manager’s report and commission reports will move toward the beginnings of meetings, in between the consent agenda (a list of items that are generally considered routine and approved with one motion, unless a commissioner asks to pull an item for discussion) and the regular agenda.
Commissioners also approved a resolution applicable to themselves, “pledging to practice and promote civility in public service and community engagement.”
People who want to provide public comment will be “encouraged to join the Governing Body in this pledge of civility: ‘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. 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.’”
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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.
