After one of their longest debates in recent months, twenty-five minutes back and forth, Richland City Council voted to change its comment policy.

In the first contentious issue to come up since she was elected in November, Councilmember Pat Holten led the fight to keep the status quo, seeming to take up the role that many expected her to have on the council – wing woman for Mayor Theresa Richardson. The two women are the oldest members of the council.

Even as it became clear that the majority wanted to increase the amount of time allowed for each public comment from two minutes to three minutes with no limit on the number of speakers, the opposition pressed on, seemingly oblivious to the optics.

Richland resident Constance Munoz, who, along with others had pushed for the additional comment minute, watched the meeting from home. She wrote the Observer about Richardson’s opposition, “Her no vote said everything. She doesn’t care what we think. And when we only get two chances a month to speak our minds, that’s a gut punch.”

Councilmember Kurt Maier introduces the change.

Councilmember Kurt Maier added a vote on the minutes allowed for public comments to the agenda at the beginning of the meeting.

“I don’t feel it’s appropriate for us to put arbitrary barriers in front of our citizens in the interest of saving our own time or encouraging them to become better writers,” Maier told the council when he introduced the measure to change the allotted time from two minutes to three.

While it became apparent during the discussion that Maier had the votes of Councilmember Jhoanna Jones, Councilmember Ryan Whitten and Councilmember Todd Samuel, the three opposing members, that also included Mayor Pro Tem Shayne VanDyke, battled on.

Holten says she cares.

Holten spoke first. She said she had done a lot of research on the topic and added, “It’s not that we don’t care. We do care. We want public information.”

Holten then listed the other cities in Washington that allowed two-minute comments or three minutes with a 30-minute limit for all of them.

When it was clear that no one was budging, she tried another tact “We’re looking at a lot of people having a lot of strong opinions about AI, and you see that everywhere. And it hasn’t been a specific item on the agenda, and but I think if we have that on our agenda, I would anticipate a lot of people being here, and I think having the two-minutes will get a lot of people through and give them adequate time to speak and still get the most people able to speak.”

Richardson points out two instances in almost five years when “council chambers were full.”

Clearly miffed by the support for change, Richardson pointed out to Maier that she had been on council longer than he had and she had seen two occasions where meetings could have gone on for a very long time. “Council chambers were full, and so that has happened.”

There have been 111 meetings that allowed public comments since Richardson took office in 2021. In two of the 111 opportunities, commenters filled the chamber.

Richardson said she had canvassed 7,500 houses and not once did the matter come up. “I’m curious why this is coming up now?”

She concluded, “I’m fine with two minutes.”

The meeting wraps up.

In their closing remarks, Richardson and Holten discussed their luncheon and tour of the American Cruise Line ship docked on Lee Street.

Richardson pitched Habitat for Humanity without mentioning that she once directed it and her son Jet Richardson, chair of the Richland Planning Commission, now directs it.

Holten mentioned the shade structures she saw while on a trip to Greece and Spain.

In his closing remarks, Mayor Pro-tem Shayne VanDyke, who in the past has admonished people for not showing up, tried to smooth over his vote to limit their opportunity to comment, “As for the engagement in public speaking, I’m going to be behind it, it’s okay.”

The next opportunity for public comment is Aug. 18.

Citizens can comment for three minutes at the next Richland City Council meeting, 6:00 p.m. at Richland City Hall at 625 Swift Boulevard. The meeting is shown live on Cable Channel 192 and streamed on Richland City View.