The La Grange Park board of trustees reached a consensus yesterday at a Village workshop meeting on new policies and procedures that would be used to manage the public's right to voice comments at the board's scheduled meetings.

The video above captures the board's full discussion on the matter.

The proposed rules discussed in the evening workshop session were revisions of those that the board failed to adopt at its June 28 meeting when, following a spirited and somewhat contentious discussion, the trustees could only unanimously agree that the time allowed for each citizen's comments would not exceed three minutes.

The La Grange Park board has long allowed citizens to express their opinions during designated "public participation" periods at its meetings. But Public Act 96-1473, approved last summer by the Illinois General Assembly, amended the state's Open Meetings Act to formally establish public comment as a "right" of all citizens, while also authorizing public bodies to adopt reasonable rules in order manage such participation.

The act became effective Jan. 1, 2011.

The board intends to formally adopt the revised rules as part of the consent agenda at its July 26 meeting.

To help you follow along with the video discussion, the PDF attached to this story contains copies of the new rules, along with other relevant information from the board's workshop packet, including an article from the Illinois Municipal Review that evaluates the Constitutional requirements for regulating decorum at public meetings and analyzes three related U.S. Supreme Court decisions.