00;00;00;01 - 00;00;18;03
Stephanie Wiechmann
In January, newly voted in council president Republican Jeff Green changed the rules on public comment at council meetings to begin in February. They include moving public comments from the end of the meetings to the beginning, restricting each speaker to two minutes instead of the long accepted three minutes, and allowing no comments during the first reading of an ordinance.

00;00;18;07 - 00;00;28;22
Stephanie Wiechmann
Muncie residents spoke for more than an hour, two minutes or less at a time, overwhelmingly asking for those rules to be changed back. Mary Moore said public comments now require advanced clairvoyance.

00;00;28;27 - 00;00;45;25
Mary Moore
I can reasonably predict that some of us will leave here tonight with questions that we were not allowed to ask about process or timing, or maybe even community impact, and we will be told to bring those questions back next month.

00;00;45;28 - 00;00;50;02
Mary Moore
Clearly, after the decisions of the council are most likely already made.

00;00;50;05 - 00;01;05;13
Stephanie Wiechmann
Greene walked back one rule change during those public comments, after public safety concerns were brought up. He's no longer requiring speakers to state their addresses. After a nearly 3.5 hour meeting, the council did not discuss the community's other change requests. I'm Stephanie Wiechmann in Muncie.