SANDPOINT — Some community members felt a sense of déjà vu during Tuesday's business meeting when commissioner chairman Ron Korn suggested limiting public comment as it pertains to derogatory statements and critiques.  

The announcement was listed as one of the first items during Bonner County's regular business meeting, and the first item reported by Korn since his return from a two-week absence.  

"Going forward, I just want everybody to be clear that any public comments on agenda items need to be pertained to the agenda's item and not anything else. And then during public comment, I'm not going to accept any derogatory comments, statements from anyone regarding personnel, elected officials, or members of the public," Korn said.  

Korn said the announcement came after receiving "many complaints over the last few years, and more so recently on public comment."

Murmurs echoed throughout the meeting room as Korn read the statement, which also said county commissioners are allowed to deliberate on an agenda item before making a motion. Historically, commissioners have only asked questions to applicable parties for an agenda item, only deliberating an item after a motion has been made, and public comment has been received.  

Public comment was previously removed from Bonner County business meetings in 2023, when a previous commissioner felt that public comment was disorderly and disruptive.  

After Korn finished his statement, Commissioner Asia Williams asked for clarification on whether the public could provide criticism to the commissioners, to which Korn said that it should be done in a professional, nonderogatory way.  

Williams shared and expressed again during the public comment portion of the meeting, that limiting a community member's comments is a "slippery slope."  

"If you allow public comment, you allow the public to comment. And telling people what they can and cannot say is a slippery slope," Williams said. "The way you get around that, and I hope it doesn't happen in this county again, is they remove public comment. Because to be honest, that's what it sounded like to me." 

Discrepancies followed between Korn and Williams, who viewed limiting public comment differently, where Korn felt it was his responsibility to keep the meetings composed and not like an "animal house meeting." However, Williams felt there hadn't been an issue with any public comments, and that limiting public comment was a habit in the county when a public official opposed what the public had to say.  

"This is a both-way thing. I haven't actually seen a meeting that's been bad in a very long time. And the word choice of saying an 'animal house meeting' doesn't make sense. It's creating a problem that doesn't exist," Williams said. "Just saying decorum doesn't mean there's a lack of decorum." 

Public comment was largely opposed to Korn's announcement, with Spokane resident Jim Leighty noting a lawsuit that he filed against the Bonner County Sheriff's Office for violating his First Amendment rights by censoring Facebook comments he had made. The lawsuit, which favored Leighty, required the Bonner County Sheriff's Office to turn off all comments on its Facebook page.  

Another resident shared that she felt public comments had been cordial and shared her appreciation for public comment and for the county's Zoom meeting feature.  

"I haven't seen any like rowdy crowds in here. Honestly, I think we've all been pretty polite. Maybe a little passionate, but I think we've been fairly polite," Theresa Heisener said.  

Currently, Korn said he will continue to enforce Bonner County Code, Chapter 2, section 1-200(B), which says, "the chair will not entertain under any circumstance comments derogatory in nature toward any board member, staff member, elected official or member of the public." The decision was made as the chair of the county board and did not have a board vote.