Haines Borough Mayor Jan Hill used Tuesday’s assembly meeting as a “practice run” for her new policy of allowing assembly members to only speak two times per motion.
Hill invoked Robert’s Rules of Order, the widely-used guidebook of meeting procedures.
“To save time, no member may speak more than two times on any one motion on the same day. Each of those speeches is limited to 10 minutes. The basis of this rule is that in the democratic process, everyone should be able to participate and debate. If one member dominates the debate, that reduces the rights of other members,” Hill said.
Hill said she believed enforcement of the rule would help assembly members better organize their thoughts.
“This is not new. This is how it was the first time I was the Mayor. We followed this rule pretty strictly, so I am hoping that it will all come back to us and we’ll be able to work within these limitations,” she said.
Members of the public are limited to speaking for three minutes per discussion item.