The city of Bangor plans to reinstate public comments via Zoom in January — with a new set of restrictions aimed at limiting disruptions.
The new policy, which was approved by a committee Monday and will go to a full council vote next week, would require community members who wish to weigh in on city business during a meeting by Zoom to pre-register by 9 a.m. the day of the meeting.
Councilors decided to pause remote participation in their meetings last month following weeks of disruptions by agitators who joined calls under fake names to deliver slurs and other hate speech that violated the city’s public comment policy.
City Manager Carollynn Lear described the updated policy as a starting point that could be adjusted in the future.
“We’d like to try the registration first to see if it resolves our problem,” she said.
City staff recommended 9 a.m. as the cutoff to register because it would give them sufficient time to review every registration and flag anything questionable for the City Council chair, Lear said.
If the new policy is approved by the council next week, it will be implemented at the first council meeting in January.
Staff considered a proposal to require that participants turn on their video cameras, but decided against it because that could lead to more disruptions, Lear said.
She cautioned that she expects some disruptions may still occur.
The proposal was approved by the council’s government operations committee with no objections.