Airport board puts new limits on public comment

Friday, Aug. 13, 1999 | 12:13 p.m.

The new chairman of the authority's board of trustees is making it harder for the public to comment during public meetings.

Geno Menchetti announced this week that citizens no longer will be allowed to speak on items as they come up on the agenda. Menchetti also moved the board's public comment time from the end of the meeting to the beginning.

Only if trustees ask for their input will people in the audience be allowed to speak during other parts of the meeting.

Menchetti said his new rule is not aimed at anyone in particular and is meant to make airport meetings more efficient. He said people still would have plenty of opportunities to address board members.

"If somebody indicates they want to speak and trustees want to hear them, we'll hear them speak," Menchetti said. "There is a lot of diversity on the board, lots of differing points of view.

"I'm sure on anything controversial, they'll be able to speak."

The state's Open Meeting Law does not require public bodies to take public comment throughout their meetings.

The law requires a "public comment" item be placed somewhere on the agenda. However, all the other governing bodies in Washoe County let the public speak on any item on the agenda, including the Board of Washoe County Commissioners, which appointed Menchetti to his post on the airport board, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported.

Rewana Farms resident Gil-Bert Weikel, who has attended dozens of airport meetings through the years, said he was dumbfounded when Menchetti announced the new rule at the board's Tuesday caucus.

He suspects the rule is aimed at shutting up Reno activist Sam Dehne. Dehne, a former Reno mayoral candidate, attends most local government meetings and seldom passes up a chance to speak.

On Thursday, Dehne stood up in the audience during the airport trustees' regular meeting in protest because none of them wanted to hear his comments. Menchetti called a two-minute recess and told the airport police chief to evict Dehne.

"They're after Sam. They're sick of him," Weikel said. "I'm sure you're tired of him, too, but you either put up with him or you risk losing the people's right to speak."

Weikel said the new rule will discourage ordinary people from coming to board meetings and talking to trustees. It's not fair to expect people to get all their comments in at the beginning of the meeting before they know what they want to say, he said.

Trustee Tom Gribben said he likes concentrating public comment at the beginning.

"This gives people an opportunity to get out of here," Gribben said. "Not everybody has all morning to spend."

Trustee Richard Hill said he's willing to sacrifice "copious" public comments to have efficient meetings and to have people get to the point. He and Gribben complained people often repeat themselves and each other when they get up to speak.