ACLU letter prompts South Strabane supervisors to rescind public comment policy
Last week South Strabane Township supervisors voted to rescind a public comment policy they adopted in August after receiving a letter from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
At their Aug. 28 meeting, the supervisors unanimously approved a policy which limited public comment to items on the agenda.
Sara Rose, the deputy legal director of the ACLU’s Pennsylvania branch, said the civil rights organization received multiple complaints related to the policy in September.
“This is not an uncommon complaint that we receive,” Rose said in a phone interview Tuesday, adding that the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act requires that government agencies allow the public to speak on any matter that could reasonably come before them.
“We’re interested in making sure that has a broad interpretation,” she said.
Rose sent a letter to the supervisors on Oct. 23 saying the new public comment policy violates both the First Amendment and the state’s Sunshine Act.
In the letter, Rose asked the supervisors to rescind the policy by Monday or otherwise face legal action.
At their meeting Oct. 24, supervisors did just that.
Township Manager Jeff Ziegler said last week’s meeting was the only chance for elected officials to take action before the Oct. 30 deadline.
“We want to comply with their request. There was no time to sit down and revisit and rework it. Just to keep things clean, they went ahead and rescinded the policy,” Ziegler said.
Rose was satisfied with how South Strabane officials addressed issue.
“Obviously we’ll keep a lookout to make sure people are allowed to speak at meetings going forward, but we’re really pleased they agreed to do that,” Rose said.