MEETING ON POT PUT OFFICIALS ON EDGE

By midnight, everyone's fuse was short.

The April 5 Modesto City Council meeting had dragged on for more than six
hours, and dozens of speakers still wanted to address Modesto's moratorium
on medical marijuana dispensaries.

Several audience members, frustrated that the issue was placed at the end
of the agenda, began shouting and interrupting the council. Council members
urged them to be quiet.

Amid the jeers, City Attorney Michael Milich leaned toward Mayor Jim
Ridenour. He made a comment inaudible to the audience but detectable on
videotape: "Clear the chambers," he said. "This is b-------."

Soon after, Ridenour closed public comment and the council passed a measure
adding 10 months to the moratorium.

Milich said Friday that he regretted using profanity in a public forum, but
he stands by his larger point. "The crowd was out of control and shouting,
and I was afraid there was going to be a disturbance."

He added that the council has the legal right to close a hearing if the
audience gets out of hand.

The exchange underscores the fine line public officials sometimes walk
during contentious hearings. On one hand, officials must allow the public
to weigh in on issues, even if their viewpoints fall outside the
mainstream. On the other, they must keep things orderly and ensure meetings
finish at a decent hour.

At times, those responsibilities come into conflict, as the dispensary
hearings attest.

"Everybody has the right to speak," Ridenour said. "But the bottom line is:
We're doing the citizens' business and we're going to keep an orderly fashion."

Amy Aranda, who attended the April 5 meeting, said the council unfairly cut
off debate. While dozens of speakers had addressed the medical marijuana
issue April 5 and at previous meetings, dozens still wanted to make points.
Many had waited six hours to do so; others, some of whom were ill, already
had left.

The jeering was out of line, she said, but she described the council's
attitude toward the crowd as "condescending."

She said the council should have placed the hearing at the front of the
agenda. Instead, the hearing followed debate on several other items and
didn't begin until after 11 p.m. The Bee reporter had left by that time to
file his story.

"By the time it came up, the only people left were those who stayed just
for that issue," said Aranda. "The rest of the public didn't get to hear
what they had to say."

At any City Council meeting, any citizen can discuss any public issue. The
agenda always includes a period for open communications, during which
people can address any topic for roughly three minutes.

Public comments on agenda items generally don't have a time limit; they
continue at the discretion of the council.

Speakers are asked to fill out a sign-in sheet, which asks for personal
information such as a name, address and telephone number. City officials
say the sheets help staff follow up with speakers to better address their
problems.

Sign-In Sheet An Issue

But the sheets also came under fire during of the medical marijuana
discussion. Several speakers refused to fill them out. After all, many at
the public forum were admitting to smoking marijuana and police officers
were present.

California law requires that such forms state that providing personal
information is voluntary. But Modesto's sheets don't do that. After
concerns were raised by Dave Thomas, former head of the Stanislaus County
Taxpayers Association and frequent council critic, the city clerk's office
began revising the forms to adhere to the law. They should be ready by the
next meeting, April 26.

On the whole, City Hall observers say council meetings since Ridenour took
office in 2004 have been much more congenial than those of his predecessor,
Carmen Sabatino.

During Sabatino's first year, 2000, meetings averaged 3 hours, 23 minutes.
Under Ridenour in 2004, meetings averaged 2 hours, 21 minutes, according to
city records. The council meeting on Nov. 2 took only 10 minutes.

Though the meetings might on average be shorter, conflict remains part of
the job. Ridenour said he welcomes disagreement. His concern is when
speakers are redundant, disrespectful or off point.

"These meetings can't go real late for the simple fact that after you sit
there five or six hours, it doesn't do anybody any good because we're all
worn out," he said.

Sabatino said if council members are worried about staying late, they
should consider who is taking up the most time.

"It's not the general public that consumes time during the meetings," he
said. "It's the council."

As for Milich's remark, Ridenour said the city attorney should have chosen
a different tone. Still, "It's his job to give me advice and that's what he
did."

Milich said he apologizes to anyone who was offended. But the comment
should be taken in context of the hearing -- and perhaps the late hour.

"Things were out of control," he said. "I said what I said."

The Modesto City Council does not meet tonight. The next meeting will be
April 26 in the basement of Tenth Street Place.