The City of La Habra Administrative Policy 3.10 (Attachment 1) includes procedural rules of conduct for municipal operations, describes how meetings of the City Council and other governing bodies are conducted, and describes the process by which matters of interest are heard and considered by those governing bodies.  Administrative Policy 3.10 applies to all City of La Habra governing bodies, including the City Council, the Successor Agency to the Redevelopment Agency of the City of La Habra, the La Habra Civic Improvement Authority, the La Habra Housing Authority, the La Habra Utility Authority, the La Habra Planning Commission, the La Habra Community Services Commission, the La Habra Beautification Committee, and any future commission(s) or committee(s). 

On August 17, 2020, the City Council approved an updated Governing Body Public Meeting Policy (Council/Agenda Meeting Policy), which included several updates and changes. One of the changes that Council deferred on at that time was staff's recommendation to establish a five (5) minute public comment time limit per speaker during public hearings, with an unlimited total time limit for all public speakers.  The City Attorney confirmed that the City Council may establish reasonable limits on the amount of time an individual can speak during public comments on public hearing items; however, indicated that due process rights must be addressed by the City Council and that there must be flexibility in allowing the public a reasonable opportunity to speak, event if a speakers time extend beyond the allotted limit should such comments further educate the City Council and not be redundant.

City Council discussion on this specific issue included setting the individual public comment time period at more than five minutes per speaker, providing the City Council the ability to cut off speakers who attempt to filibuster or be redundant, assurance that public comments stay within the scope of the subject matter being discussed, and the desire to ensure that the City's polices are compliant with the law and consist with surrounding cities.  City Council decided to defer changing public hearing speaking time limits for public comments and directed staff to bring the item back at a future date.
As per City Council direction, staff informally surveyed several surrounding cities about their public hearing public speaker allowance, with the following results:
 

Attached for City Council review is a redline version of the Administrative Policy 3.10 that includes the revisions recommended by staff (Attachment 2), which would become effective immediately should Council approve this item.