“Can you hear me?” is usually George Lance’s first line when he unmutes and addresses the Bangor City Council via Zoom at its Monday night meetings.
Lance is one of the most consistent participants in the council’s public comment periods and usually continues his speech by advocating for a white heritage month or spewing racist, antisemitic slurs.
That’s what he did at Monday’s meeting — likely for the last time, because the City Council is again banning the use of Zoom by members of the public to speak remotely during public comment at its meetings.
Remote participation was reinstated less than a year ago after a temporary ban due to an influx of disruptive speakers who joined council meetings online, often using fake names, to deliver slurs and other hate speech that violated the city’s public comment policy.
Zoom comments resumed in January with a new registration system, but some people have continued to join meetings online and share offensive remarks that, in the council’s view, have little to do with city business.
City Councilor Susan Faloon proposed the rule change during a committee meeting last week. “In my opinion, it has really bogged down our meetings and been very distracting,” she said Monday.
Even with the registration requirement that city staff implemented this year, there’s no way to know whether someone is registering with their real name and place of residence, Assistant City Manager Courtney O’Donnell said at a Government Operations Committee meeting last week.
“They always put that they live in Bangor and that’s also, you know, questionable at times, but unfortunately there’s no way around that,” O’Donnell said.
She noted that community members will still be able to email councilors, call the city manager’s office, or send someone to speak for them at a City Council meeting if they can’t make it themselves, and that the city is still required by federal law to provide reasonable accommodations in the case of a disability.
Lance was the only person who offered remote comments at Monday’s meeting, requesting a proclamation recognizing white men.
“This is free speech, woman!” he said after Council Chair Susan Hawes interjected to tell him his comments were unrelated to city business.
Lance’s name appears in meeting minutes from several towns across the country, where he seemingly also joins remotely and offers similar comments to the ones he’s repeated regularly in Bangor, including one meeting where he claimed to live at an address in North Oaks, Minnesota.
The council voted 6-2 in favor of removing remote participation, with councilors Joe Leonard and Wayne Mallar voting against. Councilor Daniel Carson was absent.
“I definitely understand why councilor Faloon brought this forward,” Leonard said, but he added, “I don’t feel comfortable taking that privilege away from the average citizen” because of bad actors.
Residents were mixed on the measure.
Katie Cough said she thought it was a great idea, but noted that it’s hard for some people to get to the nighttime meetings after buses stop running and suggested that the city’s public transit operate later on Mondays to accommodate them.
Suzette Furrow spoke in opposition to the ban. “Just as you councilors have the privilege of participating remotely, I think the public should as well,” she said, adding that she’s participated remotely in the past due to sickness or travel.
Faloon also previously suggested moving the public comment period to the end of meetings, but the Government Operations Committee decided not to move forward with that proposal.