Time's up for lengthy public comments at Westmoreland commissioners meetings

The Westmoreland County commissioners have no time for excessive talk.

Responding to what they said was a growing level of belligerency in political speech, the county commissioners, before the start of Thursday’s public meeting, announced a heightened enforcement of time constraints placed on public comments.

Commissioners Chairman Sean Kertes told the handful of speakers who waited to address the board that a previously set 3-minute time limit on public comments will be strictly enforced.

Speakers will be allowed a slight grace period to finish a thought, but once their time expires their microphone is to be cut off.

Those who disregard calls to end their talk could be physically removed by security, he said.

“We’re living at a time where on social media people are becoming more and more belligerent and trying to get their 15 minutes of fame by posting things, fighting, not stop talking and continuing that constant rhetoric,” Kertes said. “We are here for business, and we have certain rules.

“It doesn’t matter topic or matter. If you want to scream at us for three minutes that is your First Amendment right. But when your time is up, you are done.”

Before Thursday’s public meeting, a digital clock was installed on the wall behind a speaker’s podium to count down the time for each comment period.

Kertes, who has served as board chairman since 2020, until Thursday kept time on his cellphone and alerted speakers at the expiration of their three minutes.

He said the digital clock will provide transparency and allow speakers to better gauge their time as they address the commissioners.

Most speakers are polite and follow the rules, Kertes said. The new enforcement is for the few who don’t, he suggested.

“Some people we’re seeing are a lot more abrasive and not willing to back down from the podium,” Kertes said. “So, this is also just a preemptive awareness to the public that the Westmoreland County commissioners will not allow that to happen. That’s what this really comes down to.”

Seven speakers addressed the commissioners Thursday morning, with most using their time to comment on and criticize the new federal budget that included social service program cuts approved by Congress and was signed into law last week by the president. They specifically urged Republicans Kertes and Commissioner Doug Chew to denounce the reported cuts and new federal spending priorities.

Chew defended the renewed time limit for public comments saying commissioners continue to observe the rules that govern public meetings and allow for public participation.

None of Thursday’s speakers went beyond their allotted time.

Eddy Confer of Latrobe has spoken at several of the commissioners’ public meetings over the last few months, and on Thursday during her 3 minutes at the microphone criticized Kertes and Chew.

“I wasn’t surprised by this, and I figured this could be coming,” Confer said. “I wasn’t offended by it as long as they allow you to a reasonable time and the ability to finish your thought.”

Commissioner Ted Kopas, the board’s lone Democrat, said he did not oppose enforcement of the time limit for speakers. He has largely escaped criticism during the public comment periods over the last several months.

“I don’t object to keeping order and decorum at public meetings,” Kopas said, “although I found the explanation of it rather harsh and to threaten police action completely unnecessary.”