If someone wants to address the council on any topic they can do so during our public comment period for up to five minutes. They can be given more time at the discretion of the chair. This is on the agenda at the end of the meeting and we rarely have people speak at this time but that's probably because we allow visitors to speak throughout the meeting. On every agenda item, after Council members are called upon for discussion and/or questions, visitors are invited to ask questions or share comments. We have some very knowledgeable parent advocates who are not on the council who often contribute valuable information to the issues being discussed. The chair has the authority to limit this time if there are too many comments.

Sandee

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 22, 2016, at 6:23 AM, Lawyer, Heidi (VBPD) <xxxxxx@VBPD.virginia.gov> wrote:

Our current public comment policy for Council meetings does not have a time limit. We had a public comment letter at our last meeting that was 7 pages long. With a motion from a member, we stopped at 20 minutes after 4 pages. We are looking at revising our policy to place a time limit. Most state agencies and our legislature have a 3 minute time limit. When we train Partners and YLF folks on public comment, we use the 3 minute time limit. We do have some concern over 3 minutes for individuals who may have speech difficulties. Wondering what folks do in terms of public comment and do you have reasonable accommodation in your policy or do you just play it by ear at the actual meetings. We are trying to be fair to everyone, not have our meeting filibustered but ensure that we get input. Thanks! H

Heidi Lawyer

Executive Director

Virginia Board for People with Disabilities (VBPD)

1100 Bank Street, 7th Floor, Richmond, VA 23219

804-786-9369

800-846-4464

www.VaBoard.org

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