CANTON − Canton City Council voted Nov. 10 to eliminate public speaking from its regular meetings. Twenty-eight people who had signed up to speak didn’t get a chance.
Council members initiated the change to the body’s Rules of Procedure to remove the public speaking forum because of safety concerns.
The vote, which passed with eight members in support and two against, culminated in a shouting match. Members of the public audibly voiced distaste to council members while leaving council chambers. Some council members and the council president shouted back, calling for Canton police officers to remove the disruptors.
At the beginning of the meeting, Majority Leader John Mariol said public speaks has been out of hand lately, with frequent disruptions and speakers not following existing rules. Misinformation brought up during meetings has led to threatening comments online, leading to safety concerns, Mariol said.
“Public speaks has increasingly devolved into an unproductive and often hostile spectacle,” he said prior to the council vote.
He brought up threatening comments made on Facebook and claimed there have been doxing and blackmailing threats to leak Social Security numbers of council members. The FBI is involved and investigating, he said.
Council President Kristen Bates Aylward, who presides over the meeting and public speaks, said the threats to leak Social Security numbers led her to move public speaks to the end of the meeting. That effectively meant that it would not happen if council voted to eliminate it.
“As the president of City Council, it is my decision and my decision alone how to arrange the agenda,” she said. “I was torn this morning whether or not to allow people to speak or not. Even though we’ve been facing death threats and all kinds of other trolling, I still felt that I was leaning that way.
“Until today, when I got a call from the police that bad actors are threatening to extort and blackmail not just us, not just the people here in this horseshoe, but all of our city employees,” she said.
Majority of council votes to eliminate public speaks
Eight council members supported eliminating public speaks. Frank Morris, Ward 9, and Louis Giavasis, at-large, voted against the measure. Crystal Smith and Richard Sacco were absent.
Morris said he would not support the proposal because there was not enough consideration of alternative options. He said he would’ve preferred council would better enforce its existing rules for public speaks rather than eliminate the forum.
“There are a lot of people in this audience that are guilty of being extremely disruptive,” he said. “And there’s a lot of people in this horseshoe guilty of not enforcing the rules that we have in place to deal with this.”
Giavasis said he spent a lot of time considering the proposal. He defended the city’s right to revise public speaking rules, but ultimately voted against eliminating public speaks, calling the ability to speak to him as an elected official “sacred.”
“Council has a right to legislate through its rules what takes place in council chambers,” he said. “That’s a fact. That is a fact.”
When asked about Ohio law regarding resident participation at public meetings, a spokesperson for Ohio Attorney General David Yost’s office pointed to footnote 1039 on page 145 of the Ohio Sunshine Laws Manual.
It reads: “The Open Meetings Act does not require that a public body give the public an opportunity to comment at its meetings, but if public participation is permitted, it is subject to the protections of the First and Fourteenth Amendments.”
Councilwoman Chris Smith, who also chairs the rules committee that brought the public speaks change, supported eliminating the forum because of recent disorder. She encouraged members of the public to use other methods to voice concerns to the public, such as calling the council office.
“Many of y’all have been so disrespectful up here,” Smith said. “You call us names, y’all up here fussing about something that we have no control over. … It’s time for a change.”
Public upset: Multiple attendees shout at council, leave in distaste
Following the vote, the room devolved into chaos.
Daniel Dale Gates, a frequent speaker who recently ran as a Republican for Canton City Council Ward 1, was the first to address the body. Speaking over Bates Aylward, Gates accused council of violating the First Amendment.
Justin Nicely, a former Canton resident who currently lives in Massillon and runs the Canton Hall of Shame Facebook page, also spoke to council while walking out.
“They got to say their narrative but we couldn’t say ours,” he said.
Nicely said he believes the move to eliminate public speaks is retaliation.
“It’s just another theatrical play that they’re trying to put out there to make it as if, ‘Oh, well, it’s gotten so crazy,'” he said. “No. The people are pushing back against you and you don’t like it.”
As people were walking out, Giavasis commented back.
“Hey, hey! This is the reason why they voted the way they did,” he said.
Chris Smith and Bates Aylward interrupted him.
“We’re not debating it,” Bates Aylward said.
Reach Grace at 330-580-8364 or gspringer@gannett.com. Follow her on X @GraceSpringer16.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: ‘It’s time for a change.’ Canton City Council eliminates public speaks after threats
Reporting by Grace Springer, Canton Repository / The Repository
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