The Barrington Town Council is adding a second “public comment” opportunity to its monthly meeting agenda.

On Monday night, Oct. 6, council members voted unanimously to create a public comment period at the beginning of each meeting. It will follow the land acknowledgment, which is the third item on the agenda, following the call to order, and the pledge of allegiance. 

The second public comment period will remain at the end of meeting, shortly before the council adjourns. 

Barrington Town Council member Liana Cassar was a driving force in adding the second public comment period. She said the school committee holds two public comment opportunities during its meetings. Cassar said a second public comment period will offer residents some flexibility, adding that it can be “painful” to wait for hours to contribute to a meeting. 

Longtime Barrington resident and veteran reporter Jim Hummel criticized the council at its September meeting, challenging its approach to the general public comment portion. 

Hummel said he had attended a lot of council meetings throughout his career and noticed a recent shift in procedure where councilors stopped sharing a dialogue with residents who spoke during the general public comment period. He asked what the solicitor was instructing the council to do during that portion of the meeting. Hummel also read aloud part of an advisory opinion from Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha regarding the Open Meetings Act, which stated that boards are not prohibited from responding to comments made by members of the public during a properly noticed public comment period, “even if the subject of the comment was not previously posted on the public body’s agenda for that meeting.”

Barrington Town Council President Braxton Cloutier, during the meeting on Monday night, said he wanted to correct something that has been repeated: that the council does not listen or engage. 

“That’s not accurate,” Cloutier said, adding that council members listen, follow-up with residents and often respond with emails. 

He said there was an important distinction between listening to residents and turning the public comment period of the meeting into an unstructured discussion. He said council members are listening and are responsive. Cloutier said they listen to residents all the time — while at the market or at coffee shops or while they are out for a walk.

“Your comments inform everything we do from here,” he said.

Cloutier said the council needs to make a motion to add items to an agenda if they want to discuss them. That was also the advice of Barrington’s assistant solicitor Amy Goins. She said any time there was a substantive discussion, it needed to be added to the agenda by the council. 

Council member Kerry O’Neill spoke about Hummel’s comments. He said they were not about the council not listening — he said it was a request for councilors to be more responsive to residents in the moment. O’Neill said Hummel was factually inaccurate. He said there have been times when the council has shared a dialogue with people who speak during the public comment period. 

O’Neill said he does not want to sit “stone-faced” while residents share public comments or ask questions — he asked about learning where the line is between engaging and going too far. 

Cloutier turned to Goins and asked when the council would need to add an item to an agenda. Goins said the item should be added any time there is a substantive discussion. 

O’Neill asked what a substantive discussion was. 

Goins said her advice is there to protect the council. She also said there is no legal requirement for the council to respond to the public during that portion of the meeting. 

Cassar later added that there is also no requirement that the council include a public comment period during its meetings. Cassar said she was not suggesting the council abolish that portion of the meeting, but added that she was concerned that her responses to residents could demonstrate bias for or against an issue in town. 

Cassar said she will remain quiet during general public comments, focusing instead on receiving the information. She said councilors can follow up individually afterwards. 

A short time later, Cloutier made a motion to add the second public comment item to the beginning of the meeting agendas. O’Neill seconded the motion, which passed 3-0. (Jordan Jancosek did not attend the Oct. 5 meeting.)

There was no public comment allowed during the discussion.