{"id":62375,"date":"2026-02-09T18:48:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T23:48:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=62375"},"modified":"2026-02-09T18:48:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T23:48:31","slug":"polk-county-commissioners-limit-public-comments-at-meetings-advocates-call-it-restrictive-and-retaliatory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/02\/09\/polk-county-commissioners-limit-public-comments-at-meetings-advocates-call-it-restrictive-and-retaliatory\/","title":{"rendered":"Polk County Commissioners limit public comments at meetings. Advocates call it restrictive and retaliatory"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Polk County commissioners<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Prolonged public comments about the conditions at the Polk County Sheriff’s Animal Services facility have prompted the Polk County commissioners to limit input from the public to only 15 speakers per meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For years, the commission has limited the time slots for speakers to say their piece to three minutes each. And there are three separate times each meeting for comments. The restriction applies to the last opportunity, which is referred to as general public comments. It does not apply to public testimony at hearings nor comments about agenda items.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ironically, the public did not have an opportunity to provide input on the new limit because the speaker-limit resolution was placed on the board’s consent agenda \u2212 a package of decisions passed by a single, unanimous vote, without public input and designed to expedite meetings.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just remember the First Amendment right to petition one’s government. And to remember at the ballot box who voted for the 15-speaker cap.<\/p>\n\n\n

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County Attorney Randy Mink<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

According to County Attorney Randy Mink, the board discussed the change during its Jan. 29 agenda review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Governments can limit public input, but not stifle viewpoints<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While local governments can limit the number of speakers and the time allotted for each one under state statutes, they cannot deliberately restrict viewpoints it does not want to hear, according to a First Amendment expert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Governments have to be careful about preregistering speakers, for example, without violating their right to free speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the public fills out a speaker card, the commission cannot pick and choose who gets to speak based on the question or point of view they have provided as they preregister to speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked about this point in a Feb. 6 email, Mink explained the process for selecting the first 15 speakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The individuals will be called so that the speaker\u2019s cards are submitted,” he said. “If more than 15 submit speaker\u2019s cards, those not heard will be called first at the next meeting.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But an animal advocate said in a Feb 6 phone interview that she has been required to identify the topic she wants to speak about and the group she represents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a follow-up email to Mink, he wrote, “Selection of speakers is content neutral.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Feb. 3 meeting of the Polk County Commission, speakers could choose from color-coded cards to preregister for one of the three designated times when residents have the opportunity to speak at the board meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • A white card is designated to register to speak about an item on the agenda before deliberation on the item.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • A yellow card is for a speaker to register to speak at a public hearing, and explains that speakers must be sworn in to testify at the quasi-judicial proceedings.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • A blue card is for general public comments at the end of the meeting.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n
    \n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

    All three cards do request the speaker’s topic and they do ask their stance on the topic, an email with the cards attached shows. The cards ask if they support, oppose or are neutral on the topic or agenda item they wish to speak about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The cards also ask what group the speaker represents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Once recognized to speak, they are also required to provide the proposition being addressed on the agenda by referencing the agenda item\u2019s number, the Polk resolution says. The cards also ask this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In addition, phone calls and emails are other avenues to provide input on topics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    ‘They try every which way.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    To Eve Salimbene, president of the Street Cat Project of Polk County and a frequent speaker on conditions at Animal Services, the latest move is yet another change she sees as restrictive and retaliatory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “They just try every which way to get us out of there,” Salimbene said with a chuckle. She had not known about the most recent change until contacted Feb. 6 by a reporter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Last year, after animal advocates decried from the dais the conditions at Animal Services and often arrived at a rate of 10 at a time per meeting, the commission moved general public comments on non-agenda items to the end of its meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This forced citizens who wanted to comment, often taking time off work, to wait through the entire agenda, which can include the presentation of staff reports, public hearings, and debate among the commissioners prior to votes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “This is like punitive,” Salimbene said. “It’s almost like they’re punishing you for coming and wasting their time.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But Mink did not see it that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “Moving public comments did not limit individuals’ ability to speak; it allows the board to complete its scheduled business, including scheduled land use items in which citizens and individuals have scheduled before the board to be completed as scheduled and in a timely manner, prior to hearing matters that are not scheduled to be heard by the board.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Prolonged public comments about the conditions at the Polk County Sheriff’s Animal Services facility have prompted the Polk County commissioners to limit input from the public to only 15 speakers… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"12","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDFcLzEyMjAzMzM3NjU2ODg0OTA5MDgzLndlYnA_Zml0PTUwMCUyQzI2MSZzc2w9MSIsInR4dCI6IlBvbGsgQ291bnR5IENvbW1pc3Npb25lcnMgbGltaXQgcHVibGljIGNvbW1lbnRzIGF0IG1lZXRpbmdzLiBBZHZvY2F0ZXMgY2FsbCBpdCByZXN0cmljdGl2ZSBhbmQgcmV0YWxpYXRvcnkiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImhpZ2h3YXkiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.prbiJNL6fTaVFiLs1lbIS5Ko1rtEIJh1_r4KfCURNWkMQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":61768,"url":"http:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/12203337656884909083.webp","type":"image\/jpeg"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[13576],"class_list":["post-62375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-polk-county-commissioners-limit-public-comments-at-meetings-advocates-call-it-restrictive-and-retaliatory"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62375"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62377,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62375\/revisions\/62377"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}