Clearwater city council moves to calm “disruptive” public comments

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — The Clearwater city council meeting got heated Monday night as members talked about making changes to public comments.

Two people were escorted out of the meeting by police for being disruptive.

It came just before council members decided to do away with the open forum part of their meetings for three months.

That’s when attendees can comment on topics not on that day’s agenda. Those against the move say it’s a violation of first amendment rights.

Clearwater Mayor Bruce Rector said the tone of meetings has gotten very heated in recent months, leading to violent e-mail and phone threats against council members and staff.

The hope is pausing open forum will cool things down.

“We have incidents that happen like happened in Pennsylvania on Saturday, and I don’t know how these people get to the point where they want to cause harm to others, but certainly it’s a threat that we need to take seriously,” Rector said.

Meanwhile, Clearwater resident John Filax spoke out against the new rule.

“We have the right to redress our grievances whether they like it, whether they’re cuss words, as long as we’re not threatening them, which no one has done, fighting words or causing a riot, per se,” he said. “We should be allowed to speak.”

Rector said the council will discuss the measure again in three months.

He said an open forum could return to meeting agendas, but with rules focusing on decorum.