Smith County judge corrects statement about public comment rules

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - Smith County Judge Neal Franklin has corrected a statement he made regarding public comment rules during the May 9 meeting of the Smith County Commissioners Court.

During the May 9 meeting, a member of the Texas Jail Project, Dalila Reynoso, wanted to speak on two agenda items but was only allowed to speak on one item. She even told the court that she had previously spoken on multiple agenda items.

“I do know that when we made public comment in the past, Judge Moran has let me speak on two different agenda items. So, I just want that to reflect on the records,” Reynoso said in court.

Franklin responded saying, “And in the future, it’ll be one agenda item. Thank you.”

It was that interaction that led to Franklin’s correction ahead of the public comment portion of the May 16 meeting.

“I wanted to correct a statement that I made last week regarding the decorum,” Franklin said. “I actually went back and looked, and I had misstated that you can only speak on one item. You can actually speak on multiple items, but you just have three minutes. If you’re doing one item, two items, three items, you still just have three minutes each.”

The court’s rules also require members of the public to speak only on items listed in the agenda.

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