Port of Olympia commissioners ponder multimedia presentations by public

Got something to say to the Port of Olympia commission? You might be allowed to illustrate those comments with a multimedia presentation.

That was a topic of discussion at the commission’s work session Thursday, weighing whether to allow video or some other kind of presentation during public comment at its Monday commission meetings.

The idea was introduced by commissioner E.J. Zita at a port work session in March, in which she said the city of Tumwater has a similar policy that allows for multimedia presentations, according to a video of that work session.

Some of the proposals:

▪ Electronic media used during public comment must be related to port business.

▪ Electronic media must be limited to three minutes — the same amount of time already allowed per person for public comment.

▪ Electronic media must be emailed to the port by noon the day of the commission meeting. It also must include the name of the person providing the comment and a description of the content to be shown.

The commission was largely receptive to the proposals, although did discuss whether to give the person making a presentation more time.

Commissioner Joe Downing suggested the person showing a video, for example, be given an extra minute to introduce and explain the content, and identify the author of the work. The extra minute, combined with the three minutes reserved for public comment, would give them four minutes total.

But Heather Burgess, the port’s legal counsel, quickly identified some potential problems.

“And those who don’t (make a presentation) are going to get only three minutes and we’re going to time them differently?” she inquired of Downing.

Burgess countered that their introduction be included within the three-minute time limit, or that everyone gets four minutes for public comment.

Commissioner Bill McGregor suggested they “stick with three minutes.”

But Downing wasn’t done. If no videos have been submitted for public comment, then public comment time limits would stay at three minutes. If there was a video, then everyone during public comment, presentation or not, would get four minutes.

Burgess simply said that idea was “fraught with peril.”

Downing’s final idea — and it was an idea that appeared to gain some traction — was to require that the person making a presentation submit something in writing that could be read aloud by the president of the commission as a way of introducing the material.

McGregor is the commission president.

The commission also discussed extending the multimedia presentation idea to the port’s work sessions, although they didn’t appear to close the loop on that conversation. Work sessions do not have a designated public comment period, but comments are allowed at the discretion of the commission president.

This story was originally published April 21, 2016 at 10:49 PM with the headline "Port of Olympia commissioners ponder multimedia presentations by public."