On behalf of ourselves, our community, and our first amendment rights, we, the undersigned, request Newberg City Council to NOT limit the content of public comment to agenda topics during public forums.

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Foremost, limiting public comment defies both the letter and the spirit of our Constitutional first amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld this inviolable democratic principle in the case of New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964), stating as such: “profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open, and that it may well include vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials.” This precedent from the supreme court upholds the right to make public comment on governance, to not be impeded, shaped, or barred in any way.

While a governing body has the ability to set a ‘Limited Public Forum’ it is coded into first amendment law that any such restrictions placed on speakers must be placed on all speakers equally. If this is not adhered to, such governing bodies are liable to litigation, as seen in the case of Baca v. Moreno Valley Unified School District (C.D. Cal. 1996).

Despite the ability of Newberg City Council to equally limit public comments based on time, content or both, limiting the content of community speech will disservice the whole of Newberg. Working in tandem with city leadership is a bipartisan right that connects community to leadership. Limiting public comments to topics only on the Agenda will be perceived as leadership closing their ears to their constituents who elected them, it may send the message that Council is filtering participation, and will only deepen the divide within the community. Public comment is not just a courtesy; it is a civic safeguard.

This limitation creates additional barriers for:
- Disabled residents who rely on flexible formats or varied timing to engage;
- Caregivers and working-class community members who can’t track shifting agendas in real time;
- Community members unfamiliar with local procedures, who often only discover relevant issues after attending or through a neighbor trying to stay involved on their behalf.

On behalf of ourselves, our community, and our first amendment rights, we, the undersigned, request Newberg City Council to NOT limit the content of public comment to agenda topics during public forums.