How to speak at a Council meeting

How Milton works · Lesson 4

You don’t need to be invited to speak to Milton City Council. You need a comment card, five minutes and a point. Here are the rules, from the city code.

Before you go

Find your item. The agenda and packet post before each meeting, and Before the Vote walks through every item.
Know which kind of item it is. That decides when you speak and for how long.

At the meeting

Fill out a comment card and give it to the city clerk before your item is called. Once the clerk calls the item, no more cards.
General public comment comes early (item 5 on the Oct. 19, 2026 agenda), before the consent agenda. It covers consent items and first readings. Five minutes, once.
Public hearings and new business: anyone may speak on that item, five minutes each.
Unfinished business: each side must have the chance to speak for at least ten minutes.

Can’t be there?

Email a comment marked for the record, 300 words or fewer, to the elected officials, the city manager, the city clerk or a department director, about an item on the current agenda. The clerk reads your name, address and position into the record, and the full text only if you attend or show you can’t.

Speaking for a group

If you speak for an HOA or any other group, the code requires a notarized affidavit, filed with the clerk before the item is called.

All rules: city code Sec. 2-59.

Make it count

Name the item by its agenda number, and say what you want Council to do.
Bring one fact from the packet. Page numbers help.
Send it in writing too. An email to your councilmember lasts longer than five minutes at the podium.

Quick check

When do you hand the clerk your comment card?
How long can you speak during general public comment?
You want to speak for your HOA. What does the code require first?