Pueblo prepares for large crowd at city council as councilors weigh needle exchange ban

Pueblo city government is preparing for large crowds at Monday's city council meeting.

On the agenda is one of the most controversial ordinances since city council considered banning abortion clinics in Pueblo in December 2022. This time, the ban being considered by council is on syringe access programs.

Two locations in Pueblo provide clean needles for people who inject drugs intravenously, as well as other medical uses. These programs have come under attack over the past year by some local politicians who are skeptical of their benefits and decry the prevalence of used needles in Pueblo.

Advocates point to decades of research that show how needle exchange programs reduce the prevalence of blood-borne diseases and can help people eventually seek treatment.

Here’s how the city is planning on managing a potentially large crowd at the May 13 meeting.

How you can attend Monday’s meeting

City spokesperson Haley Sue Robinson told the Chieftain that guidelines for a potentially larger crowd at the Monday meeting were developed by the city clerk’s office, the fire department and the police department.

The maximum capacity for city council chambers is 115 people seated, as well as 20 standing, according to a sign posted outside the council chambers.

Doors to city council chambers will open at 4 p.m., which is an hour and a half before council’s work session starts. A press release from the city about the Monday meeting specifies that people can form a line outside City Hall before the chamber opens.

The city hires three security guards during council meetings. Robinson said Wednesday afternoon that the city is not planning on hiring additional guards for Monday’s meeting.

Attendees will need to undergo a security screening. Backpacks are prohibited inside city council chambers and weapons are prohibited in city buildings, Robinson said.

Online testimony will also be accepted via Zoom, according to the city’s press release. People can call 719-553-2669 between 6 and 6:30 p.m. If nobody is immediately available to take the call, interested speakers should leave a voicemail with their information.

What will happen if too many people show up?

After 4 p.m., people can go into council chambers on the third floor of the building “until capacity is reached,” the release states. If chambers fill up, people can come into City Hall but will have to wait on the first floor of the building where the meeting will be livestreamed on TVs.

If chambers are at capacity, people will be required to leave the council chambers to allow for additional speakers after they share their testimony. The release notes that they can still stay in City Hall and watch the meeting in the overflow space downstairs.

People who would like to testify but aren't able to get into city council chambers will still be able to put their names on a sign-up sheet outside the city clerk’s office. They will get a numbered card that will allow them to get into the chamber when it’s allowed, according to the release.

“Once the City Council Chamber capacity has lowered by approximately 20 speakers, the next 20 individuals who are assigned a speaking card by the City Clerk’s Office will be allowed in the chambers,” the release states. People who don’t come to the chambers when it’s their turn will “forfeit their place in line.”

The release cautions that signing up to speak and coming to the meeting in person “is not a guarantee of the ability to speak during the public hearing” since the hearing could be closed “without warning” if council hears enough testimony.

How Council President Mark Aliff is approaching the meeting

Mark Aliff, as city council president, is tasked with making sure the meeting runs well.

He told the Chieftain Thursday that the process for this public hearing will be similar to other public hearings, although he said there’s a “great possibility” of a crowd that’s bigger than normal.

Council could potentially change the limit on public testimony from five minutes to three minutes if a large number of people want to give public testimony, Aliff said. He said that he wants to make sure everyone has a chance to speak, but that could fluctuate if speakers’ talking points are similar.

“One thing as president that I have to be aware of is that if you if you just have a continuous flow of people saying the exact same thing and they're not adding to the conversation, that may be something that we need to take a look at,” Aliff said. “I'm very, very supportive of people being able to speak on any issue and having the right to do that, but it should be very important that they add to the conversation.”

He said that he has not yet decided how he will vote on the ordinance.

“You have to let the process run its course. That's why we have public testimony,” Aliff said.

How public testimony usually works at Pueblo city council meetings

City council accepts feedback from the public at their meetings in two general ways. Up to six speakers are allowed to speak for up to five minutes during public comment at the beginning of the meeting, on topics that are not directly on the agenda.

People have already been coming to speak about Pueblo's needle exchange programs in public comments at council meetings for at least the past month. The majority of speakers have largely been advocating for the programs.

Council votes on ordinances at two separate meetings: the first vote usually happens as a part of the consent agenda without discussing each individual ordinance, but a public hearing is opened for each of the ordinances that council considers on second reading.

Generally, speakers on ordinances are also limited to five minutes, but there is no specified limit on how many people are allowed to speak. The council president usually first solicits testimony from people speaking in favor, followed by people speaking against.

Many ordinances that pass council elicit no public feedback.

Anna Lynn Winfrey covers politics for the Pueblo Chieftain. She can be reached at awinfrey@gannett.com. Please support local news at subscribe.chieftain.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Why Pueblo City Council is preparing for a large crowd on Monday