- January 11, 2025
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The Palm Coast City Council has adopted a change to public input policy for council workshop meetings.
The City Council is required to give public comment at its meetings, but council policy previously stated that, at workshop meetings, the public could only speak on workshop agenda items.
As Mayor David Alfin said in the Jan. 31 meeting that reviewed council policies, City Council did not adhere to that.
“I never want to limit the public’s ability,” Alfin said at the Jan. 31 meeting. “This is one of those ways that we get valuable input from the public.”
The council unanimously agreed to change the policy, which was officially adopted on Feb. 21. The change will simply match policy to practice, allowing the public to speak on any topic at a workshop.
The policy change was approved in a 4-0 vote as part of the consent agenda; Alfin was absent from the meeting.
In the Jan. 31 workshop, City Council also directed City Attorney Neysa Borkert to draft an invocation policy for the council to add alongside its Pledge of Allegiance and recently implemented moment of silence. The drafted policy will be presented to City Council at the March 14 workshop.
Borkert said in the Jan. 31 workshop that, because of separation of church and state, a specific policy needed to be written up based on case law. As long as they don't exclude anyone, it could be added, she said.
"As long as you're meeting certain metrics with the policy," Borkert said on Jan. 31, "then it can be implemented."
