When Government Respects Citizens, Everyone Wins (Opinion)

Last night’s Hagerstown City Council meeting was truly a breath of fresh air, although an extremely long-winded one. At its regular session on Tuesday evening, the Hagerstown Mayor and City Council addressed a wide range of matters including zoning changes, utility upgrades, and new resolutions for summer programming. The meeting began at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall, with Mayor William B. McIntire presiding. Highlights included appointments to the Board of Zoning Appeals, proclamations for Women’s History Month and a local retirement, and extensive discussions on development and infrastructure projects.

This opinion article was updated 3/26/2025 to provide more constructive criticism of BOCC meetings.

There were multiple public hearings last night, as well as the general public comment section. Several people expressed disagreement with the proposed Doub Farm zoning overlay, and strong opposition against it. However, despite their strong objections, everyone was polite and respectful. Why? There was truly a different energy in the room compared to County Commissioner meetings. The council was actually listening and engaging with residents on their concerns. Instead of shutting down the live stream for public comment, the mayor and council embraced public comments and ensured everyone had their fair chance to speak.

To better understand how this is supposed to work, the general citizen comment section of public meetings, such as those held by city councils, typically functions as a limited public forum under the First Amendment. In this setting, the government may impose reasonable restrictions on the time, place, and manner of speech, such as limiting speaking time or requiring advance sign-ups. Additionally, the forum may be restricted to specific topics relevant to city affairs or the meeting agenda. However, within those constraints, the government cannot engage in viewpoint discrimination. For example, if public comments in support of a policy are permitted, comments in opposition must also be allowed under the same conditions. While not an open forum for unrestricted expression, this designated period provides a structured opportunity for public input on matters of local governance. To lawfully enforce restrictions during public comment, the government must clearly establish and communicate rules of decorum and participation in advance. This means if a policy is extremely broad and does not limit topics during the public comment, elected officials can’t restrict comments to only topics relevant to their government.

The result of this embracing of free speech is that people are now beginning to show up at Hagerstown City Council meetings to speak about county issues. And while the City has no ability to take action on most of these issues, that’s not the point. The point is that residents are able to freely express themselves on local issues to as many people as possible. And it’s working amazingly well.

I’d like to thank the Hagerstown Mayor and Council for embracing free speech, instead of suppressing it. It was truly a welcome change compared to the suppression of free speech during County Commissioner meetings, controlling the narrative by limiting public reach, instead of openly encouraging constructive dialog. I look forward to seeing more free speech at Hagerstown City Council meetings in the future, and hope that Washington County will someday soon allow free speech to thrive once more.

Opinion article by Ken Buckler, president of RFHC. All opinions are his own, and do not reflect those of our clients or sponsors.

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