Public Comments

Public Hearing Procedures

• All evidence and testimony will be presented under oath.
• The petitioner will be allowed to present first.
• After the petitioner is completed, interested parties will be allowed to present evidence and/or cross examine the petitioner.
• As this hearing is legislative in nature and not administrative, an interested party shall be defined as someone who either owns property within 600 feet of the proposed development site, or a member or official representative of an affected governmental body; the remainder of those who wish to be heard shall be classified as public speakers.
• Interested parties will present second.
• Once the interested parties have completed, public speakers will be heard.
• These individuals are public speakers, so the applicable public speaking rules shall be in effect:
• Speakers should try to address all comments to the council as a whole and not to any individual member
• Repetitive comments are discouraged
• Total comment time for any one person is 4 minutes
• No speaker shall engage in a debate or make direct threats or personal attacks or be uncivil or abusive
• Disruptive behavior by the members of the public will not be tolerated
• The presiding officer may limit irrelevant, immaterial, or inappropriate comments or statements

Public Participation Rules of Procedure

Citizens who are unable to attend the meeting can email comments in advance of the meeting to publiccomment@joliet.gov.

Submit Written Comments

After publication of the agenda, email comments to publiccomment@joliet.gov. When providing written comments to be included as public participation at a public meeting, clearly identify the following in the subject line:  

• The date of the meeting.
• The type of meeting for the written comments (e.g. Joliet City Council meeting, etc.).
• Name and any other identifying information the participant wishes to convey to the public body.
• The category of public participation - Citizens to be Heard on Agenda Items, Public Hearings agenda items or Public Comments (non-agenda items).
• For Citizens to be Heard on Agenda Items and Public Hearings agenda items, identify and include the specific agenda topic (e.g. issuance of a Class “A” Liquor License for AAA business) or specific Memo number (e.g. COUNCIL MEMO #200-20).

Received email comments will be forwarded to the appropriate body prior to the meeting but will not be read aloud during the meeting. 

The entire content of the comments will be subject to public release. The City of Joliet will be under no obligation to redact any information. 

The contents of all comments will be placed into a shared file for the public body to access and read. 

It is strongly recommended that the comments are emailed not less than twenty-four (24) hours prior to the meeting so the appropriate Council members, Commissioners, Board and Committee members have adequate time to review the comments prior to the meeting.