St. Pete City Council enacts measures to prevent disruptions
July 6, 2020 - The St. Petersburg City Council has new procedures for public comments during council meetings in an effort to prevent a repeat of the threats, derogatory racial epithets and hate speech that disrupted the June 11 online meeting. Beginning with the upcoming July 9 meeting, the council chairman will have the discretion to take public comments by email, instead of verbally, in the event of a disruption. The city clerk will mute all participants except for the chairman, and after each agenda item is concluded, the city clerk also will lower all hands raised to comment. The St. Petersburg City Council has been holding online meetings since early April, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The council is expected to discuss a return to in-person meetings at Thursday's meeting.