{"id":209247,"date":"2026-08-24T21:50:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T02:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=209247"},"modified":"2026-08-24T21:51:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T02:51:56","slug":"behavior-at-council-meetings-addressed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/08\/24\/behavior-at-council-meetings-addressed\/","title":{"rendered":"Behavior at council meetings addressed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s probably an understatement to say some of this year\u2019s Van Wert City Council meetings have been tense and at times, a bit chaotic. While much of the acrimony has centered around council\u2019s approval of annexation and zoning of land for QTS\u2019s planned $10 billion data center, there have been other topics that have drawn sharp criticism from some who attend council meetings. That criticism and other sharp remarks have come from city residents and those who live outside the city. Other times, discussion has strayed from business related to the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after the start of Monday night\u2019s meeting, Council President Thad Eikenbary addressed some of the behavior at recent meetings and he laid out expectations moving forward.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Van Wert City Council President Thad Eikenbary said meetings will be conducted in a more orderly fashion. Scott Truxell\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThe purpose of a city council meeting is to conduct business of the city following the approved consent agenda,\u201d Eikenbary explained. \u201cThese meetings are open to the public, they are not meetings of the public. Your comments to the administration and\/or the council should pertain to items related to council and the business that we have at hand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contrary to popular belief, there is no law that requires time for public comment but Eikenbary noted that at each council meeting, there are four specific opportunities for the public to speak. It\u2019s different than the vast majority of other governing boards, which typically offer one chance to speak at a meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFollowing those four times that you have address council and\/or the administration, please do not continue to just repeat points that have been made over and over and over again in the past,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can hear you \u2013 it\u2019s in the record, so please don\u2019t spend the time repeating things over and over again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also reminded those in attendance that they are only to address council if they are recognized by the president (of council) to do so. When that happens, he said each speaker is to state his\/her name and address for the record, then will have two minutes to speak. Each person will have one opportunity to address council once in each of the four opportunities provided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Eikenbary closed by saying behaviors that have been displayed at previous meetings, including ongoing conversations among audience members in the gallery will no longer be tolerated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you can\u2019t keep to these simple procedures, then you will be asked to leave,\u201d he said. \u201cCan we please leave the vitriol and the negativity and the finger-pointing, the name-calling and the accusations at the door? You have plenty of opportunity to share that stuff outside these meetings and feel free to do so, but please don\u2019t bring it into the meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The message seemed to be clear. While some audience members addressed council on various topics Monday night, the meeting was perhaps the most civil one in several months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor It\u2019s probably an understatement to say some of this year\u2019s Van Wert City Council meetings have been tense and at times, a bit chaotic. While much of the acrimony has centered around council\u2019s approval of annexation and zoning of land for QTS\u2019s planned $10 billion data center, there have been other topics […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-209247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-01 00:21:07","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209247"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":209261,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209247\/revisions\/209261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}