Keep it short, sweet before city council

Be polite. Be brief. If you don't like it, then come out and have some coffee.

Those are the latest changes to evolving public comment rules at Wheaton City Council meetings.

Less than a year ago, Wheaton wrote new public comment rules to encourage decorum and quell personal attacks on the motives of the council members and mayor.

Monday night's changes add brevity and equal time elements. Comments from the public are now not only limited to 5 minutes, but each citizen may only speak once. The limits now also apply to developers who often bring lengthy video presentations on construction projects to the council.

The final change makes it harder for a citizen to slow down the consent agenda portion of the meeting. The consent agenda is reserved for items the council deems routine in nature and not requiring council discussion. As such, the items usually get one group vote.

In the past, citizens could pull a consent agenda item to the regular agenda just by asking, forcing council discussion or a roll call vote on the issue. Now citizens must get a council member to agree to pull to the item for it to be moved. Citizens may still comment on the consent agenda even if the item is not pulled.

If the new rules don't satisfy a citizen wishing to comment, the city advises a visit to the council's "Coffee With Council" sessions at 10 a.m. the first Saturday of most months.

New developments

Wheaton will also soon see two new construction projects in town.

The first project meets one of the city's top priorities, the continued development of property along Roosevelt Road.

The construction will bring a 2,200-square-foot, two-story office building to 211 W. Roosevelt Road. A single-family home currently stands on the property.

The second project expands Wheaton's borders with a new subdivision off Gary Avenue near Royal Court. The city annexed the property back in April. The 12-lot subdivision will be called The Knolls of Wheaton Oaks.