041720 Press Release - April 21 Council Meeting Public Comment Notification 1CI1-
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DENTON Ryan Adams • (940) 349-8565 • Ryan.Adams@cityofdenton.com
April 21 City Council Meeting to Offer Virtual Public Commenting Options
DENTON, TX,April 17, 2020—To prevent the spread of COVID-19 (Coronavirus), the April
21 Denton City Council meeting will have a remote format through a video-conferencing
interface and will use the new Rules of Procedure that were adopted during the March 31
Council meeting. Residents can watch the meeting online at www.cityofdenton.com/dtv, on the
Denton Television cable channels, or on-demand.
Due to the remote format of the Council meeting, no in-person attendance at Denton City
Hall will be permitted. To accommodate and receive input on agenda items, citizens will be
able to participate in one of the following ways (NOTE: Except for public hearings, citizens may
only comment once per agenda item and cannot use both methods to comment on a single item.
Additionally, public comments are not held for work session reports):
• Virtual White Card—The April 21 agenda is available online at
www.cityofdenton.com/publicmeetings. A link to the Virtual White Card, an online form,
has been made available under the main heading on the webpage. Within this comment
form, citizens may indicate support or opposition, and submit a brief comment about a
specific agenda item. Comments may be submitted up until the start of the meeting, at
which time, the Virtual White Card form will be closed. Similar to when a citizen
submits a physical white card to indicate their position on the item, these comment forms
will be sent directly to City Council members and recorded by the City Secretary. City
Council Members review comments received in advance of the meeting and take that
public input into consideration prior to voting on an agenda item. The Mayor will
announce the number of Comment Cards submitted in support or opposition to an item
during the public comment period, but comments will not be read during the meeting.
The City Secretary will reflect the number of comments submitted in favor/opposition to
an item, the registrant's name, address, and(summary of) comments within the Minutes
of the Meeting, as applicable.
OR
• By phone—Citizens wishing to speak to the Council on an agenda item over the phone,
may call (940) 349-7800 beginning 30 minutes prior to the start of the meeting, until the
agenda item is brought forward for discussion. When the call is initially received, a staff
member will receive the caller's information and either: 1) offer to call the citizen back
when it is time for them to speak on their requested item, or 2)record the caller's
information, support or opposition, and comment. If the caller chooses to record their
support or opposition, rather than speaking during the meeting, the Mayor will announce
the number of comments submitted in support or opposition to the item. If the caller
wishes to receive a call back, the voice of each caller will be broadcast into the meeting
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during the public commenting time of their desired agenda item. Individuals will be able
to comment once per agenda item, no matter the method.
• At regular meetings only, including this meeting on April 21, citizens can speak on any
topic that is not on the agenda during the "Open Microphone"portion of the agenda.
Citizens may call (940) 349-7800, as described above, and alert the call taker that they
wish to speak under the Open Microphone category.
• If a citizen would like to give a public report, they may register by noon the Thursday
before the scheduled meeting by contacting the City Secretary's Office at
citysecretary@cityofdenton.com or(940) 349-8309. On the day of the meeting, the
registrant will be called shortly before the meeting is called to order and will be placed
into the speaker's queue. When it is time for the registrant to speak, the call will be
activated live and the speaker asked to begin the presentation.
The City will continue to release updates at www.cityofdenton.com/coronavirus and the City's
social media channels.
Contact: Ryan Adams, (940) 349-8565, Ryan.Adams@cityofdenton.com
Visit www.cityofdenton.com for more news and to stay updated.
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