Commissioners Discuss Changes To Tarrant County Meeting Participation Rules

Arlington TX

24 May, 2022

5:33 PM

Description

By Rachel Behrndt, Fort Worth Report May 23, 2022 The Tarrant County Commissioners Court is reviewing rules of decorum for public participation at its meetings. The county started discussing meeting rules after the Texas Legislature passed three updates to the Texas Open Meetings Act in 2019. Without a formally adopted set of rules, the presiding officer — in this case the county judge — can control the rules of audience participation as long as any limits are imposed equally. This proposed vote would ensure participation rules are changed by a vote of the commissioners, rather than the county judge unilaterally, county administrator G.K. Maenius said. The Commissioners Court is allowed to set rules that limit signs and demonstrations, require speakers to sign in or fill out a form and impose speaker time limits, said Kelley Shannon, executive director of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas. To read the full article, click here. Fort Worth Report is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that produces factual, in-depth journalism about city and county government, schools, healthcare, business, and arts and culture in Tarrant County. Always free to read; subscribe to newsletters, read coverage or support our newsroom at fortworthreport.org.