Pocatello residents raise frustrations after public comments are eliminated from council meetings

POCATELLO — Fifteen or so people sat through Thursday night’s Pocatello City Council meeting holding up signs proclaiming their frustration with Mayor Brian Blad and his decision to eliminate the public comment portion from all future meetings.

RELATED | Public comments canceled at Pocatello City Council meetings going forward

“Items from the audience” has not appeared on a City Council meeting agenda since the Jan. 5 meeting. In a statement provided to EastIdahoNews.com by city spokeswoman Marlise Irby, Blad said that his decision to discontinue the agenda item was due to the fact that the council was not permitted to take any action at that meeting — or even discuss the information brought forth.

According to past meeting agendas, the “items from the audience” portion of each meeting allotted 15 minutes for residents to address any item not included in any other portion of that meeting’s agenda — with no single speaker getting more than three minutes.

Among those in attendance Thursday was Craig Yadon, who was defeated by incumbent Dustin Manwaring in the 2022 Republican primary for State House Seat 29A.

After the meeting, Yadon told EastIdahoNews.com that Blad’s decision to eliminate public comments showed the mayor’s inability to “deal with inconveniences” of public “critique and questions.”

“It’s never good when you can’t handle public comments,” Yadon said. … “I’ve just found him to be very thin-skinned.”

Asked to describe a government that does not allow comments from the public, Yadon explained that disallowing open public forums removes the “Democratic American process.”

“It’s called a kingship — it’s called a dictatorship.”

Also in attendance at the meeting were members of the grassroots government watching dog organization Pocatello of Accountable Government Entities — P.A.G.E.

One of the groups members, Lydia Noble, who ran against councilwoman Linda Leeuwrik for her council seat in 2021, said Blad’s decision to remove public comments from the council’s agendas affects all city residents.

“At some point or another, many people are going to possibly need to come in front of council and present a case bout an issue that’s going to affect them directly,” she said. “A 15-minute public comment period from the two meetings per month, that are all we have for public comment, is not asking a lot. Citizens have the right to be given three minutes, should they need it.”

Blad said in his statement that citizens are welcome to email or call him with any questions or concerns. But, as Noble explained, that prevents grievances from being taken up publicly, recorded and made available through those recordings.

By having those conversations behind closed doors, Blad has made it easier to ignore those grievances, which is something that has been done to Noble, she added.

P.A.G.E., Noble said, researches Pocatello city dealings and attempts to educate residents through their Facebook page — which can be found here.

As part of the organization’s mission, they have also attempted to help educate the council of the research the organization has done in the past. But, with no public forum for their presentations, Noble says that P.A.G.E., like all taxpaying citizens, “have been closed down.”

Like Yadon, Noble described this decision by Blad as “totally undemocratic.”

“The whole basis of what I was always taught democracy is about is, debate, discussion and coming to an agreement based on better knowledge,” Noble said.

Government cannot reach that point of “better knowledge,” she added, if part of the debate is not receiving an opportunity to be presented.

As for those people who attended the meeting to voice — or wave — their displeasure, Noble said she was happy with the representation and expects that representation to grow with each passing meeting.

“I was very pleased because I think this is a core value that citizens believe in — they feel they have the right to talk to the people they’ve elected,” she said.