Marseilles debates shifting public comment period during contentious meeting

After another heated public comment session Wednesday night at Marseilles City Hall, Commissioner Michael Scheib sparked debate among council members by proposing changes to the Marseilles City Council meeting format and how the public’s voice is heard.

Scheib suggested moving the public comment period to the end of meetings instead of the beginning, saying it would allow residents to respond directly to council actions taken during the meeting.

“I’m suggesting public comment be at the end of the meeting to hold us accountable,” Scheib said. “We say we would do something – what did we do? Now the citizens can respond to that.”

Commissioner Melissa Small said she values giving residents a voice before decisions are made, since it could influence how she votes on agenda items.

“I feel it’s a disservice to our community taking that opportunity for them to speak prior to us moving forward with decisions that could affect them,” Small said. “There have been times when community members comments have changed how I voted.”

Small also noted that a current city ordinance places public comment at the beginning of meetings.

However, she said city staff is currently looking into whether that provision has since been amended.

Commissioner Jim Buckingham said he was indifferent to the proposal, but noted public comment had been placed at the end of meetings for over 20 years before the recent change.

“For 22 years, public comment was always at the end,” Buckingham said. “Now it’s at the beginning. That’s fine – leave it there. I’m not going to keep flip-flopping.”

The debate among the council was followed by yet another heated public comment period.

During the session, resident Melissa Pointer and former resident Scott Damnjanovic spoke out against city officials, saying they aren’t being transparent about meeting videos and how they respond to FOIA requests.

Specifically, Damnjanovic alleged that videos from past meetings were missing and not properly posted online, and that the city repeatedly denied those videos existed.

Damnjanovic said he is considering suing the city over the issues he raised.

Marseilles used to stream council meetings live but no longer does.

With 40 active FOIA requests listed on the city website, City Attorney Christina Cantlin said the city’s regular legal counsel couldn’t keep up with the volume. The council voted to approve bringing in the law firm Kavanagh Grumley & Gorbold LLC to assist with the workload.

Resident Denise Parini urged the city to adopt more consistent competitive bidding practices for projects and purchases, saying the city should avoid awarding work without public notice or multiple quotes when possible.

She said it was important for residents to feel confident that taxpayer dollars were being spent fairly and efficiently.

No formal action was made on the proposal to move public comments, as it was only a discussion point.