In preparation for its return in August to 6 p.m. sessions, the Lawton City Council voted to impose some restrictions on the “audience participation” portion of its semimonthly regular meetings.
Comments from the audience are limited to a maximum of 30 minutes. Each speaker is allotted 3 minutes “to state their business,” and discussion about any particular subject is limited to a maximum of 9 minutes.
Speakers are required to “fill out and submit” a “request to speak” form. If no form is submitted, the council “reserves the right to deny the request to speak.”
In the future, each speaker must be a Lawton resident. Recently a woman from Bethany, in the Oklahoma City metro, has addressed the City Council at least twice about potential hazards of the Westwin Elements nickel/cobalt refinery under construction in southwest Lawton.
Since audience participation is time-limited, those minutes should be reserved for Lawtonians, the council indicated.
The amended rules for audience participation also decree that “if the privilege is abused, it may be forfeited … for a period of no less than six months.” The presiding officer shall determine, at his/her discretion, “the duration for which the offending individual’s speaking privileges will be forfeited…” Three women who disrupted the Lawton City Council meeting Feb. 27 with a loud protest against the Westwin Elements’ mineral extraction project were escorted from the council chamber, without incident, by Lawton police.
The three, who identified themselves as ‘Westwin Resistance,’ repeatedly shouted “Shut it down!” before police officers politely asked them to either refrain from disrupting the council meeting or leave the premises.
One of the Native American women was heard by a Southwest Ledger reporter telling an officer, “If you touch me that will be a hate crime.” And at least one of the protesters claimed that dirt work at the Westwin site is, or will, disturb Native American gravesites.
After a few minutes of discussion with the officers, the three arose from their seats and left the room.
In one other rule revision, the council’s presiding officer “may call upon a member of the audience to participate” during a public hearing if that person has “expertise or background information” about the item being discussed.
The rule changes “bring Lawton in line with what other cities are doing,” City Attorney John Andrew said.
Lawtonian Robert Ratcliffe said that sometimes the actions of City Hall “affect people who live outside the city limits,” and therefore allowing only local residents to speak during audience participation was tantamount to “restricting voices from outside.”
Mayor Stan Booker said out-of-town residents who want to express an opinion about City of Lawton personnel, policies or actions can do so via email or letter.