City of Alton - Committee of the Whole Meeting
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ALTON – Alton officials are changing their plans to shorten public comments at future city meetings.
Committee of the Whole members voted unanimously on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026 to postpone a resolution which included sweeping City Code changes regarding public comments at Committee and City Council meetings.
The resolution originally called for all public comment time limits to be shortened from five minutes to three minutes per person, and shortened even further to two minutes per person when more than 10 people sign up to speak at the same meeting.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Alderman Chris Bohn made several amendments to the resolution he introduced. Instead of automatically shortening each person’s speaking time, Bohn proposed leaving the five minute limit in place unless more than 10 people have signed up to speak – in which case, all speakers would be equally limited to three minutes each.
Alderwoman Martha Pfister expressed support for the newly amended time limit rules, adding that when more than 10 people sign up to speak at a given meeting, several of them are usually addressing the same topic.
In addition to imposing new time limits, the resolution also originally called for further regulations on comments and behaviors. All remarks were to be “addressed to thee Council as a whole” and speakers would been ordered to refrain from certain behaviors, including disorderly speech or action, name-calling or personal attacks, obscene or indecent remarks, and “derogatory comments on personalities.”
The original resolution also would have prohibited speakers from promoting or advertising products or services, promoting “any contest or lottery,” or promoting candidates for public office or upcoming ballot measures.
Alderman Michael Velloff voiced concerns about the resolution limiting individuals’ rights to free speech, repeatedly calling certain language in the resolution “unconstitutional.” He emphasized that people have the right to criticize city officials, even individually, adding that in his opinion, the council should welcome the promotion of new businesses as they open in the city.
Bohn then proposed removing the sections regulating behaviors and speech topics from the resolution, leaving only the newly amended time limit and a rule preventing speakers from donating their time to others in place.
These changes were so significant, committee members agreed they prompted the need for an entirely new resolution to be drafted. They unanimously approved postponing the original resolution indefinitely before the new resolution is introduced at a future meeting.
A full recording of the Jan. 27, 2026 Alton Committee of the Whole meeting is available at the top of this story or on Riverbender.com/video.
