Should non Joplin residents be allowed to speak to the council? Mayor Cortez says "yes" with conditions

At a recent Joplin City Council meeting, the question of “should only Joplin residents be allowed to speak to the council” came up.

Joplin Mayor Keenan Cortez told the KZRG Morning Newswatch:

“I have zero problem with any citizen coming to the podium to say, hey, elected officials, here are my concerns for the community. Here are my concerns about this particular item we're discussing tonight or you're about to vote on or new legislation that you're going to impose upon the citizens. Zero problem with any of that.”

Cortez went on to say:  “I'm going to tell you this. What we are looking at as a city, what I've instructed our legal department to take a look at is, we don't want people coming to City hall to hijack our business meeting. If it's on the agenda, come and speak to what's on the agenda. If it's not on the agenda, the restriction should be you're not allowed to come and hijack for five minutes or ever how long a situation that may be going on in the community, but we're not specifically addressing it at this meeting, and then hold up the meeting or delay the meeting or elongate the meeting based upon, you know, what you feel needs to be addressed, whether or not it's on the official agenda or not.”

The mayor went on to say if you want to address the council about something that’s on the agenda, contact the city clerk and make your wishes known by noon the Thursday before the meeting so you can be added to the list.

The next public Joplin City Council meeting that will include the second and third reading of the land annexation and rezoning for a possible A-I center has been moved to the Corley Auditorium at Missouri Southern.

Cortez recommended if the subject is not on the agenda, speak first to your councilman and then maybe your discussion item can be added to a future council meeting agenda.