Gadflies’ buzz stings council

Mathis Winkler

Monday, Nov. 12, 2001 | 9:28 a.m.

North Las Vegas City Council members rarely take more than two hours to discuss the city's business during their biweekly meetings because few residents speak during the sparsely attended sessions.

But once in a while there's a surge in lengthy public comments from gadflies, and city leaders begin wondering whether they're giving people too much time to talk.

"The issue tends to come up when somebody seriously abuses" the right to address council members, Mayor Michael Montandon said during a recent study session on the matter.

Unlike the Las Vegas Valley's other governmental agencies, which mostly limit speakers to three minutes in front of the dais, North Las Vegas gives two extra minutes to those wanting to comment.

"Right now, our five-minute time limit rarely affects anybody other than Mr. Winne," Montandon said, referring to Mike Winne, a City Hall regular.

"For every 100 issues, there's only two or three problems," Montandon said. "But when the good reverend brings a boom box and forces us to listen, it's an additional two- or three-minute drag on our lives."

A few weeks ago Pastor S.S. Rogers played Denise LaSalle's "I'm Tired of Going Through Changes" on a stereo to protest the departure of Joey Tillmon, the city's former police chief. Despite the mayor's repeated requests, Rogers refused to stop the music, forcing council members to continue the meeting with LaSalle's voice in the background.

Councilwoman Shari Buck said she would support reducing the time limit, saying that court rulings supported a three-minute allocation.

Besides, "usually after three minutes, people get redundant," she said.

But Councilwoman Stephanie Smith said she vehemently opposed a change.

"As public persons, our job is to sit and listen," she said. "I don't want to send out the message, 'Thank you for voting for me, now shut up.' "

When Buck countered that following Smith's argument city officials might as well give residents 10 minutes to speak, Smith said she wouldn't have a problem with that.

Montandon said he didn't think less time for public comments would make a big difference.

"At the end of the year, it's going to change our lives by 20 minutes total," he said, but he asked city officials to report back on how other municipalities and elected bodies handle public comments.

Winne said he didn't want council members to cut back on talk time.

"You all took the job knowing there was a five-minute deal," he said, and he later protested the mayor's decision to refuse requests by Mike Thomas, another council critic, to speak on 24 issues during the meeting.

But Montandon rejected Winne's claims that the council was suppressing the public's right to speak.

"I'm letting people talk," he said to Winne. "I'm just not letting you and (Thomas) talk."