Williams again allowed to give commissioner reports
SANDPOINT — Bonner County Commissioner Asia Williams will once again be allowed to present her commissioner report during regular business meetings following a vote from the board Tuesday.
Williams presented the issue to her fellow commissioners during Tuesday’s meeting after she has continuously not been allowed to give a public comment during that portion of the meeting. She had begun signing up for public comment after the commissioners' reports were removed from the commissioners’ agenda a few months ago.
However, Commission Chair Luke Omodt said he did not think Williams classified as a public commenter since she was on the board, and has thus not been allowing her to provide comments, since he claimed that time was set aside for local residents.
On Tuesday, Williams told her fellow commissioners that legal counsel had advised the board numerous times it was not in its best interest to limit who was and was not allowed to speak during that time.
“We have allowed every other elected official to get up and not just give public comment, but to comment on different items in the agenda,” she said. “This board has repeatedly denied me to put something on the agenda and to give public comment.”
Williams again stated that her name has been on the public comment list for weeks, but every week, Omodt decides it is within his power to remove her name and skip over her allotted time. The purpose of the chair of the board, she added, is not to make decisions regarding who is not allowed to speak each week; that position’s purpose is to simply conduct the meeting.
The District 2 commissioner said that every week, she hopes to provide important information to the public that is well within the business of Bonner County. Thus, there should be no reason for her not to be allowed to speak every week.
“Because of this board denying me to give my report and then denying me public comment, it is negatively impacting the ability to communicate,” Williams said. “It is not reasonable and appropriate for the chair to assume that he has the right to deny an individual.”
The behavior displayed by the current board shows evident “prejudice and discrimination,” she claimed.
Despite the conflict regarding her public comments the past few weeks, Williams got a seemingly positive response to her request at Tuesday’s meeting. Omodt said that while he stands by his decision that members of the board are not general members of the public and should not be taking up public comment time, he understands Williams’s point.
“I can agree with you that there are things that are valuable in what you bring forward,” he said.
Because of this, Omodt stepped down from the chair and moved to allow Williams to agendize her commissioner report each week as she sees fit, “with the hope that it has to do with the business of the county.”
The motion passed 2-1, with Commissioner Steve Bradshaw voting against it.