The purpose of this policy is to ensure that community members representing various points of view are allowed time to present their views while permitting the Board to conduct their meeting in an efficient and effective manner.

1. Public comments are permitted during the time designated on the meeting agenda.

2. A sign-in protocolwill determine the order in which speakers will be recognized. Unless additional time is granted by the presiding officer, each person is allowed a maximum of three minutes to speak. Members of the public will not be allowed to speak a second time until all members of the audience who wish to speak have been allowed to do so.

3. Members of the Board shall not question or address the public speaker directly, nor may the speaker directly question or address individual members of the Board.

4. Speakers shall state their first name, their town of residence, and if representing a group, the name of the group.

5. Comments shall be about library business only.

6. Personal attacks on Library Board Members or staff members will not be tolerated, nor will language that is considered offensive, harassing, or profane. Community members at Board Meetings must adhere at all times to the AFL Patron Conduct Policy and all other relevant AFL policies. Any member of the public who does not conduct their comments in a respectful manner will be asked to leave the meeting.

7. The Board will not take any action on any issue raised during the public comment period until it has conducted additional study and research to determine impact and consequences of any related decision. Once a decision has been reached regarding the public comment, the commenter will be informed in writing. The notification will indicate one of the following:

1. The Board has reviewed your comment and will take appropriate action.
   
   
2. The Board has reviewed your comment and determined that no further action is necessary at this time.

8. Public comments made at AFL Board meetings do not supersede or replace the materials reconsideration process as outlined in the AFL Collection Development Policy. Any community member wishing to have an item or program reconsidered must submit a fully completed Materials Reconsideration Form before any action can be taken on that request. 

9. Minutes are a summary of the Board’s discussion and actions. Speaker requests to append written statements or correspondence to the minutes will not be honored; written materials presented to the Board will be included in the Library’s files rather than the minutes. A brief summary of the public comments will be included in the minutes.

Adopted November 20, 2023