Allowing the general public to speak during a city council meeting could open the door to anything.
Surprise’s councilmembers sometimes find that out the ugly way when people throw accusations and allegations toward them during the call to the public portion of the meeting.
One woman last year accused everybody on the council but one member of taking influential money from a developer to sway their vote on a particular project, but because of Surprise city code, the councilmembers weren’t allowed to speak or defend themselves.
