An effort to change some of the rules for public participation in county Board of Supervisors meetings is being dropped after failing in a split vote Tuesday.
The proposal by Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer had aimed to address frequent delays and disruptions — a continuing issue, as events at Tuesday’s meeting underscored. Her motion said the updates “would protect the board’s ability to conduct business in an orderly manner while ensuring all have an equal opportunity to observe and participate.”
But it won’t be resubmitted for consideration, her spokesperson James Canning said Wednesday.
The proposed updates had drawn a mixed reaction Tuesday, with more than a dozen speakers opposing it — some calling it censorship — and several others complaining that frequent off-topic public comments wasted time and discouraged real participation.
Supervisors were split on it, with Lawson-Remer and Monica Montgomery Steppe supporting it, Nora Vargas and Jim Desmond voting against and Joel Anderson absent.
Multiple times that morning Vargas had stopped the meeting amid shouts from the audience to remind people not to cause disruptions. Later, a woman who had already received two warnings was escorted out after refusing to leave the podium.
The woman, who identified herself only as Consuelo, was commenting on the county’s proposals for how they’ll spend the remaining tens of millions of dollars in federal pandemic relief funds, when Vargas told her she was off topic and asked her to leave the podium, causing others in the audience to join in protests.
“I’m not leaving,” Consuelo repeatedly shouted as she walked toward the dais, prompting sheriff’s deputies who had begun gathering in the chamber to push forward. She kept shouting the rest of her speech as the gallery was cleared.
Justin Castro, who identified himself as “Gambler” during public comment, writes his name on a piece of paper and shows it to the cameras filming the San Diego County Board of Supervisors’ meeting after a caller said speakers who go anonymous are “afraid” on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024.
(Ana Ramirez/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
The Bonita resident told the San Diego Union-Tribune this wasn’t her first time being removed from a meeting. “It’s been about a dozen times,” she said. She and her husband, who introduces himself at meetings as “Paul the bold,” are among a group of people who show up to every board meeting.
Although Vargas had proposed a similar motion of her own in November that differed only slightly from Lawson-Remer’s, she voted against her colleague’s on Tuesday.
Both would have let the board chair reduce the current 2 -minute time limit per speaker for non-agenda public comment and for public comment on discussion items when necessary for time.
Vargas said Wednesday she withdrew her motion after learning that constituents disagreed with that change. “I took that under consideration and pulled the item to ensure we can incorporate the community’s input before making any changes to the rules.”
