Hannibal City Council discusses public comments

HANNIBAL, Mo. – Hannibal City Council may adjust the way public comments are heard at their twice monthly meetings.

About eight months ago, councilmen implemented a 30-minute period prior to each city council meeting to allow comments to the public. Since then, Hannibal council members have arrived to meetings at 6:30 p.m. instead of the meeting start time at 7 p.m. but patrons have yet to take advantage of it.

Rather than speaking during the 30 minutes, patrons have continued to sign up and speak after 7 p.m. during the patron comment time set aside on the agenda. 

At the meeting on Tuesday evening, Mayor Pro Tem Mike Dobson proposed council do away with the meeting time since it has not been utilized by the public. Councilman Colin Welch voiced his agreement with Dobson.

“We have been doing this for eight months with no one coming, and we are basically holding from 6:30 to now hostage and I just don’t really see any need for that,” he said. 

Dobson suggested in his memo attached to the council agenda that those who sign up to speak during the meeting include their address and define the specific questions they have for council. Dobson said knowing the patron’s question and ward in advance would help their specific councilman research and work with them.

The 30-minute pre-council meeting allotment for public questions and the patron comment section during the meeting are different in several ways. If speaking before the meeting there is no requirement to sign up before the agenda goes out, and there is no time limit on the speaker. The patron comment section during the meeting requires the patron to sign up in advance and only allows five minutes per speaker.

Councilman Charlie Philips disagreed with the idea. He believes it is the “basic right of the  public to have a forum to speak to their elected officials” although he would have no problem tweaking or adjusting it.

“I think that it’s very very important we have this public comment speaking time. The fact that no one has utilized it yet, doesn’t mean we should do away with it,” Phillips said. “This is a very small amount of time in my opinion.” 

Hannibal City Attorney James Lemon agreed with Phillips and advised the council not to do anything that might restrict or discourage patrons from speaking at council meetings. 

Lemon told Dobson that he didn’t want the council to be accused of not allowing people to speak. “Because I don’t think that’s your intent, it just hasn’t been working as it went.”

Dobson agreed with Lemon that it is not their intent to disallow public comments.

Lemon pointed out that the comment time does not appear on the public agendas, which he said could mean the public at large might not know the council is doing it.

Lemon also mentioned the council has had a lot of public comments, but they have not been requiring those who are signing up for the patron comments during the meeting to instead come to speak at 6:30 p.m.

If people do not want to come in early to speak, Lemon suggested they change the order of the agenda. Those who want to take care of quick business, such as street closures, can go first, patron comments can go second, and then city business after that.

‘If you remember there was one citizen who was very upset because he had to sit through multiple public comments when all he wanted to do was talk to you all,” he said. “And when people want to make public comments, they can go to the public comment section and not make it part of the business meeting.”

Dobson agreed with Lemon. 

Councilman Stephan Franke also agreed with Lemon. “I think it’s a good idea. I think it’s going to be rarely used anyway, and might prevent us from coming in earlier than we might prefer. On top of that, it keeps the line of dialogue open, and people who want to come in and talk about a festival or street closure can still come in and don’t have to wait through the public comments.”

City Council will be in further discussion before changes are officially made.

Street Closures:

Jason Noland, principal of Hannibal High School, requested a street closure from 5:15 to 6:45 p.m. on Oct. 11 for Hannibal Homecoming Parade.

Appointments:

Paul Miller was reappointed to the Hannibal Tree Board for a term to expire in September 2026.

In other business:

• Council approved a first reading to rezone property located at 111 S. 10th Street in Hannibal from a E-Commercial to a One-and-Two-Family. The Dept. of Public Works approved the zoning on Sept. 21.

• Council approved Hannibal an emergency purchase of a new fire truck for $865,000, allowing them to purchase without going through the standard bidding procedure. Fire Chief Ryan Neisen said if the purchase must be made after Oct. 31, the price could increase up to $100,000. The truck will be specifically designed for the Hannibal Fire Department, and will arrive in late 2026. The payment will be due 30 days before delivery.

• Council approved the sale of firefighter’s bunker gear surplus property to the firefighter the gear is issued to. The firefighter is moving on to the Quincy Fire Department, and Hannibal Fire Chief Ryan Neisen said the equipment was created to fit the firefighter who is currently using it.