The Douglasville-Douglas County Water and Sewer Authority (WSA) plans to amend its meeting procedures on how it handles public comments.

This amendment is on the agenda for next Tuesday’s regular 5:30 p.m. WSA board meeting.

The new policy will only allow public comment on agenda items at the start of the board meeting and comment on non-agenda items at the end of the meeting.

“We’ve added some very simple rules, similar to what the city and county have on public comment,” said Pete Frost, WSA executive director. “We’ve been having public comments at the end, but we’ve seen people have to wait through a long meeting to make their presentation. This way, they can go first without having to sit through the entire agenda.”

People presenting public comments must sign in before the meeting begins and any materials to be distributed to the board must be submitted to the WSA communications coordinator or other WSA representative at sign-in time.

Each speaker is allowed three minutes, and there’s a 30-minute limit per agenda item or topic. The speaker must give name and address slowly and clearly and identify whether he/she is in support or against the agenda item.

Speakers on non-agenda items are asked to focus on the facts and understand no action will be taken at the meeting.

WSA also holds work session meetings at 5:30 p.m. on the last Monday of each month. Items which will be on the agenda of later WSA meetings are discussed. No official action is taken at a work session.

Public comments will be first on the WSA work session agenda. As with the regular meetings, speakers must sign in before the meeting and submit any distribution materials to the communications coordinator. Each speaker has three minutes, with a 30-minute limit per topic for multiple speakers. No votes are taken at work sessions.

Speakers who have appeared before the board in the past are not allowed to present the same information again. New information, brief comments or clarifying statements are allowed.

The new rules also call for the silencing of cell phones and pagers, prohibiting of political campaigning or solicitation.