(a) A governing body shall, for each public meeting, reserve a period for public comment to provide the public with the opportunity to comment on matters that are germane to the items on the agenda for the meeting.
Terms Used In Tennessee Code 8-44-112
Germane: On the subject of the pending bill or other business; a strict standard of relevance.
Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
Member: means any person included in the membership of the retirement system, as provided in chapter 35, part 1 of this title. See Tennessee Code 8-34-101
(b) The governing body may put reasonable restrictions on the period for public comment, such as the length of the period, the number of speakers, and the length of time that each speaker will be allowed to provide comment. The governing body may require a person to give notice in advance of the desire to offer comments at a meeting. The governing body shall take all practicable steps to ensure that opposing viewpoints are represented fairly, if any.(c) A notice for a public meeting shall indicate the manner in which a person may indicate the person’s desire to provide public comment at the meeting.(d) This section does not apply to:
(1) A meeting of a governing body, or a portion thereof, where the governing body is conducting a disciplinary hearing for a member of the governing body or a person whose profession or activities fall within the jurisdiction of the governing body; or(2) A meeting for which there are no actionable items on the agenda.
