Newton City Council to change meeting rules following workshops, court rulings

Within the next month the Newton City Council will consider changing its rules and procedures for public meetings, which is partly due to the results of past workshops and the judgement from the Iowa District Court for Jasper County saying citizen participation rules for too broad and violated the First Amendment.

Newton Mayor Mike Hansen told Newton News in a recent interview that council members held workshops as early as August 2022. Hansen also attended a conference held by the Iowa League of Cities, and one of the exhibits showcased how public meetings are transitioning from civil to uncivil.

“It was an interesting eye-opener as far as you need to look at your rules and make sure you’re good to go and that type of thing. So we’ve held a few of those workshops, and that started in August with a presentation from (municipal consultant) Pat Callahan. He’s been a longtime consultant in public affairs.”

Council members have since been providing input to change the rules. Hansen said the resolution to adopt the new rules was going to be introduced prior to the Feb. 6 council meeting, but the mayor wanted to hold off until the court made a decision regarding the city’s case with resident Noah Petersen.

On Feb. 1, Petersen was found not guilty of disorderly conduct after he was arrested in October 2022 for calling the police department a “violent, civil and human rights violating organization” that he alleged does not make the community safer. He also claimed the police department is “pro-domestic abuse.”

Per the city council’s rules, citizens are granted three minutes to speak but are prohibited from making derogatory statements or comments about any individual.

According to court documents, Petersen’s comments are protected by the U.S. Constitution. He used no profane language nor did he identify any individual by name or act in any objectively unreasonable manner. Petersen was reading a prepared statement relating to the basic city service of policing.

The court found the City of Newton did not meet its burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt that disorderly conduct occurred. It also found Petersen’s actions and statements did not exceed any authority he may lawfully claim under the free speech provision of the U.S Constitution.

While some may not agree with the content of his comments, the court found the statements made by Petersen were not derogatory nor about an individual.

“In the event the statements could be found ‘derogatory’ or a comment about an ‘individual’ as used in the city council’s rules, the court finds these terms vague and overbroad,” court documents stated. “As applied in this particular instance, the Newton City Council rule is violative of the First Amendment.”

Hansen respects the judge’s ruling, which the mayor said also pointed out how he arrived at his conclusion regarding the vagueness of the rules.

“And I think that’s important if that’s being pointed out that we address that,” Hansen said. “So we are in the process of addressing that now, particularly after some of the things that were cited in his ruling so that we can be more specific in council rules. I would anticipate the March 6 council agenda we’ll have our rules.”

However, Hansen stressed the changes to the council meeting rules are not a “knee-jerk reaction” to the ruling, noting the council workshops and Iowa League of Cities conference took place before Petersen was arrested.

The city council may also re-examine when citizens can address issues that are on the agenda. Hansen always thought it was more transparent to seek individual input from citizens when the actual agenda items are being discussed. But a potential change could let citizens voice concerns at the start of the meeting.

“I’m kind of torn,” Hansen said. “Although I see it as a positive if your item is No. 37 on the agenda line and you had the opportunity to visit about that at the start of the meeting during citizen participation you would have sat there all night waiting for that agenda item. I see the value in that.”

But Hansen also sees how strong the impact could be to have a citizen wanting to stay until late into the meeting to share their concerns.