PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that residents can be rude to elected officials during open microphone. This comes with mixed feelings from city councilors.

Last month, the Ordinances and Rules subcommittee unanimously approved an amendment to its rules that follows the SJC's decision that regulating the substance of public commenters is "unconstitutional."

This includes the use of hate speech.

Pittsfield's rules largely conform with the exception of a sentence that states a speaker shall refrain from any personal attacks. City Solicitor Stephen Pagnotta revised it to state that the public comment period should be conducted in an orderly and peaceful manner.

City Council President Peter Marchetti attended the meeting to remind the subcommittee that the Massachusetts Municipal Association is working on some guidance following the decision.  

"I think that we should put this into place as fast as we can, and keep an eye out that the MMA had to webinars in regards to this topic and they are coming out with some written procedures for guidance that would not necessarily be part of the rules, but part of a process that we would adopt," he said.

"So I would appreciate approval and send it back to the full council."

Ward 6 Councilor Dina Lampiasi recognized that they have to keep in line with the SJC ruling but is concerned about the dialogue it will allow.

"I am concerned about the reality of the type of language that we're going to see in this chamber," she said.

"There have been times that things have been said that shouldn't have been said and we're now not able to stop people from doing that. I think perhaps there are some groups that are more sensitive to the language that has been used or could be used particularly in the current political climate but it is what it is and it's an SJC ruling."

Ward 1 Councilor Kenneth Warren said everyone was getting a little bit more nervous than they needed to be.

"I think the main thing is you're not allowed to regulate content. It's what somebody says. For example, you can't say they can't criticize us but yet they can come up and say what a great job we did, give us As or whatever but when they start critiquing us very badly, then we say, 'No, no, no, you can't do that. You can't make derogatory comments,'" he said.

"So comments are allowed. It's when it gets to where it's disrupting meetings or where it's potentially inciting violence so I don't think we see that very often. In my tenure, potentially once so I don't think it's going to be a big issue."

He pointed out that the public is limited to three minutes with public comment.

"If someone is somewhat boisterous and a little unruly, but they have a three-minute timer so like I said, cooler heads prevail," he said.

"If someone gets a little biting with the comments, they're going to be cut off in about three minutes. Obviously, if someone starts screaming and saying violent things right from the get-go that's when there's a problem."

Warren later said the public will also be critical of people who say offensive things.

This was brought to the subcommittee for the first time in May and a vote was deferred because the MMA would be discussing it at a conference in June along with a potential code of conduct.

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