At the most recent Village Board meeting Mayor Joe D’Onofrio had an egg timer on the table in front of him. He reminded, per the printed rules on the back of the meeting agenda, that speakers using the ‘public comment’ portion of the meeting must keep their remarks to three minutes.
At least one person took offense.
Martha Aylward, wife of Trustee Brian Aylward, went to the microphone during public comment to remind the board: “You all work for us. You are there because of us.”
She said that to “cut people off because of something you don’t want to hear isn’t right” and told the board that “it’s not like Highland Falls is a big city”, and noting not too many people come to the meetings.
D’Onofrio said he brought the egg timer, and will impose the three-minute limit because “if you go back and look at the meetings on tape, speaking for six or seven or eight minutes is too long, and that’s what was happening”.
The agenda was recently changed to only allow for a public comment session at the start of the meeting, instead of both the start and end.
The other rules on the agenda include that speakers must be recognized before speaking, speakers must come to the front of the room, speakers must give their name, and all remarks should be addressed to the board as a body and not to individual board members.
