(Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

PARKERSBURG — Parkersburg’s city attorney said he agrees with the principles a representative of the ACLU of West Virginia cited in a letter about City Council’s public forum, but doesn’t believe they’ve been violated.

City Attorney Blaine Myers responded Monday to the letter the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia released last week saying council is infringing on free speech by telling public forum speakers they can’t address individual members. In a letter of his own, a copy of which the city provided to The Parkersburg News and Sentinel, Myers says the claim that council doesn’t allow speech that references or concerns public officials is “patently false.”

Myers said he’s attended more than 90% of council meetings since his appointment in January 2021 and witnessed speakers address a litany of topics, including expressing their objections to and criticism of policies and proposals by the mayor and council.

Council presidents “have discouraged speakers from directly addressing individual members and have asked that comments be directed to the chair,” Myers said. “Speakers have also at times been asked to not address the individual elected officials by name. The purpose has been to maintain the civility of discourse, and to the best of my recollection has occurred only a handful of times during the nearly 100 meetings I have attended. Even on those occasions nearly all speakers have been permitted to conclude their remarks.”

Myers said council’s policy will continue to be “viewpoint neutral.”

“Speakers will be permitted to engage in criticism of public officials, including personally directed comments, so long as speakers abide by the topic and time limitations and do not otherwise engage in disruptive conduct,” he said.

Council President Mike Reynolds and others in the role frequently open the public forum portion of council meetings by saying it is not a venue for personal attacks.

Council recently voted 6-3 to change the public forum rules to limit topics only to items on the agenda.

An ACLU-WV representative said Tuesday morning he had not seen the letter from the city.

Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.