AUSTIN (KXAN) — People signing up to speak on items at Austin City Council meetings will get at least two minutes after the city faced a lawsuit tied to how much access the public should have to its officials.

The lawsuit was brought forward by Save Our Springs Alliance Director Bill Bunch, a City Hall regular. He threatened to sue the council several months ago, while speaking to them during public comment and followed through.

Bunch: Do I get my 8 minutes?
Watson: No sir.
Bunch: I get two minutes for my four items?
Watson: And you’re down to 1:01.
Bunch: Okay, and I will see you in court promptly. And we will have this foolishness put to an end.

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In short, two judges sided with Bunch, placing a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the City of Austin. It required city council to give every speaker three minutes per item.

A second judge noted that the City of Austin simply needed to codify speaking rules by passing an ordinance to come into compliance with the law, which is what the Austin City Council did late last month.

“Part of that ordinance says that the presiding officer will set an amount of time for people to speak. That will be of course based upon number of items, it will be based upon number of people signed up to speak, those sorts of things so that we can operate an efficient meeting,” Watson said. “But we expressly stated, and I feel pretty strongly about this, that in no instance would it be less than two minutes.”

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Bunch thinks three minutes is a more appropriate amount of time. And the mayor noted that in some instances, he may get it. Two minutes is only the floor.

“Certainly appropriate that you take this step to make your procedures comport with the Texas Open Meetings Act as well as the City Charter. Appreciate you moving in that direction,” Bunch told city council members.

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