BELLE — Residents who request to be on a Belle Board of Aldermen meeting agenda are required to share the topic they wish to discuss, according to Mayor Pro Tem James (Pudd) Mitchell.

“If they want to be put on the agenda — I called Stuart (Haynes) from MML — we have to say what we are talking about on the agenda. If they want on the agenda, they can be put on there and they can discuss on that subject.”

Stuart Haynes is the director of administration and policy at the Missouri Municipal League (MML), a membership-based group that assists city governments. The city has regularly used MML as a resource to apply policy and ordinances in the past. Haynes said the board has a right to decide what will be on the city’s agenda.

“Number one, the board agenda for the council meetings is to be set by the elected officials,” Haynes began. “It is their meeting and their business and they are the ones that can determine what their agenda is.”

Haynes explained that the board is required to notify the public about what will be discussed during the meeting via the posted agenda.

“Sunshine Law requires that the public receive notice of matters to be discussed, so if they are going to vote on something, it needs to be on the agenda,” Haynes said.

If a member of the public wants to be added to the agenda, they are required to reveal in a few words what they will be addressing the board about. Being on the agenda also means the board can vote on agenda items.

“There is a big distinction between public commentary and being on the agenda,” Haynes said. “Being on the agenda is determining what issues will be discussed that night, and they provide time on the agenda to talk about it.”

Additionally, Haynes explained that if someone signed up on the agenda last month to discuss a topic, like dogs, the board is not required to allow someone to sign up on the agenda this month to discuss the same topic again.

“They can say no the second time,” Haynes said. “We don’t need to hear the same issue over, so they are not putting it on the agenda. The agenda is the business of the city council.”

Haynes referenced again that the agenda is for city business, it is not a time to exercise free speech. The agenda is not about free speech.

The public is also required to sign up for the agenda in advance of the posted 24-hour notice required by Sunshine Law. According to City Ordinance 629 — Rules for Public Commentary Period, which was passed during the February board meeting, citizens on the agenda have five minutes to discuss their topic. Mitchell told residents this month that the five minutes may be used to discuss one topic that the resident requested to discuss. Citizens who sign up for the separate public discussion/public commentary period before the meeting begins will have three minutes to discuss any topics they can fit into the time limit at the end of the board meeting.

Those who want to be on the agenda and have five minutes to discuss one topic need to sign up more than 24 hours in advance of the posted agenda.

“They need to let us know in time to get put on (the agenda) and say what it is they are talking about,” Mitchell said.

Residents can sign up at the podium before the meeting to speak during the public forum at the end of the meeting, which will take place after those community members who signed up on the agenda. Residents signed up under public discussion will have three minutes to discuss any topic.

“Multiple (discussion topics) need to be put under the public commentary period (to be discussed during the comments from visitors line-item),” Haynes said.

The board should not vote on any topic brought to its attention during a public commentary/comments from visitors period if it has not advertised the topic on the meeting’s agenda — to give the public proper notice of the discussion. The board cannot require members of the public to reveal in advance what topics they will be discussing during the public forum.

“Having a public commentary period, it becomes an open forum and opens an issue with free speech,” Haynes said. “(The board) can’t require that citizens reveal a topic or limit the topic because it is free speech.”

No action can be taken on topics discussed during the public forum.

“If during a public commentary period, the public asks for something and (the board) did vote on it they would be violating the law because they discussed something that they didn’t advertise about,” Haynes said.

Last month the board moved the public commentary period from the beginning of proceedings to the end of the meeting. It plans to do the same thing again this month, according to Charro Reasor, City Hall’s office manager.

Several community members who have expressed issues to the board over the last several months or even the last two years are unhappy with the city’s new requirement. At least one has expressed a belief that the city is trying to silence those who are calling out the problems. Mitchell said on March 7 that wasn’t the case.

“I am just doing what MML told me I can do,” Mitchell said. “We don’t even have to have public discussion. That is a courtesy of the council to let that happen. I am just telling you what MML is saying. That the meeting is for city business. People are more than welcome to attend, but we do not need to have a public discussion.”

Whoever wants to sign up for the agenda may go to City Hall to make the request and share the topic they would like to discuss.

“They don’t have to submit what all they are talking about (as in a full letter), they just have to say what they are talking about,” Mitchell said.

He added that he called MML to find out about public discussion requirements, but that he isn’t trying to keep people from speaking.

“It’s not an MML requirement,” Mitchell said. “I called MML because I needed to know the guidelines on public discussion. I know they think I’m trying to start trouble, but I’m not. I’m just trying to follow the law. I’m not trying to keep them from speaking by no means.”

Mitchell said he contacted those citizens who had already requested to be on the board’s agenda on March 13 to let them know about the enforcement of the requirements.