As people protesting the Israel-Hamas conflict have continued to disrupt Boulder City Council meetings, council members may soon look at taking new steps to keep such behavior in check.

In the wake of an especially intense meeting, where yelling, cursing and emotional confrontations forced the council into a longer-than-normal recess, council members and city staffers have been in discussions about how future disruptions should be handled.

On Monday, Councilmember Mark Wallach sent a public email saying some of the behavior at meetings had become “inappropriate” and had “created a hostile environment.” He said he knew of people who had stopped coming to meetings or participating in open comment because of the atmosphere in the chambers.

“This cannot continue,” Wallach wrote. He added that, in trying to allow community members to express themselves freely, the council has “lost control of the meetings themselves.”City Manager Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde responded to Wallach’s message, saying she shares the concerns about increased disruptions at meetings and ensuring that everyone stays safe, while still allowing people to communicate with the council. She said a response from city staffers will be “forthcoming.”

But Wallach’s message exemplifies the growing concern and frustration among council members about how to manage the tumult that sometimes occurs at meetings. Several have expressed the need to balance community members’ right to speak to their elected officials with being able to conduct city business and maintain a safe, welcoming environment for members of the public.

In a statement, Councilmember Nicole Speer said staffers have already been examining changes to help people feel safe participating in meetings, but she agrees changes are needed.

“Ultimately, I agree with Councilmember Wallach that it’s up to (the) council to fairly and consistently follow our rules and procedures. Changes are unlikely to be effective if we don’t adhere to our existing rules and procedures,” she wrote.

“We’re in a predicament. … I believe in free speech, but also, we can’t have an atmosphere where people are worried about their physical and emotional safety,” Councilmember Tara Winer told the Daily Camera, adding that she has also started feeling unsafe at meetings.

“Whatever we’re doing right now, it’s not working.”

Council may consider new rules amid ongoing Gaza conflict

Disruptions at the latest meeting, on Dec. 19, sparked fresh conversation about changes to the council’s meeting rules. That night, Boulder resident Evan Ravitz took to the podium during open comment, and as he spoke about numerous topics, including the Gaza conflict, he grew increasingly irate. After returning to his seat, he repeatedly yelled “f*** you” at council members. Other audience members joined in the shouting, and Mayor Aaron Brockett called a recess.

Council members retreated to a secure area, and it took nearly 15 minutes for protesters to clear out of the room. Recesses typically only last about five minutes. And according to people present at the meeting, the protesters then moved downstairs, below the council chambers, and continued to be disruptive. Winer said the recess went on for that long because protesters were refusing to leave the council chambers, and she could still hear them downstairs that night after the meeting resumed.

Dust-ups over the war in Gaza have been a regular occurrence in the council chambers for more than a year. Some community members have repeatedly called for the council to pass a ceasefire resolution, as some other cities have done, while others have urged the council not to involve itself in international affairs.

In February, the council voted 7-2 against considering a ceasefire resolution, but that has not stopped people from coming to meetings donning Palestinian and Israeli flags, waving protest signs in the council chambers and interrupting open comment sessions with chanting and shouting.

The council has already made efforts to rein in disruptive behavior at meetings. Last summer, the council changed some of its rules around meeting participation, banning large signs and limiting how many people can be at the podium and where they can stand. And in mid-December, council members voted to enforce an existing rule that requires council members to wait until the end of a meeting to respond to open comment speakers.

But in the near future, council members may consider additional new restrictions, such as limiting public comments on subjects not related to city business, expelling people who engage in disruptive conduct at meetings, and potentially banning disruptive people from future meetings.

A ‘burning fuse with a potentially violent outcome’

Several people who watched the Dec. 19 meeting said the events of the night were shocking to watch.

Hollie Rogin, mayor of Lyons, attended the meeting as a private citizen and not in her official role. Speaking in her personal capacity, Rogin said the vitriol and anger there were “palpable” and “scary” to witness. She left shortly after the recess was called. But she also saw that the disruptions were hindering the council from getting its work done.

“I consider some folks in Boulder City Council to be my friends and colleagues, and seeing firsthand how they are unable to conduct the business of the city of Boulder was striking,” she said. “These are business meetings. They’re there to conduct the business of the city.”

Macon Cowles, a former Boulder council member and frequent speaker at open comment, wrote an email to council members just after midnight on Dec. 20, hours after the meeting concluded, that was shared with the Daily Camera. The atmosphere that night was like “a burning fuse with a potentially violent outcome,” Cowles wrote.

“Out of control anger surged through (the) council chambers tonight. The conduct of a number of people present was shocking, with cursing, yelling, residents in the room screaming at each other,” he wrote.

“It was a violation of the rules of decorum that the Clerk carefully announced at the beginning of the meeting. Rules that you did not enforce. This noisy show of protest and anger drives away moderate voices who want to participate in discussions of city business. Normal folks are intimidated and silenced by what went on this evening,” he wrote.

Cowles said the lack of enforcement suggests the council is “not serious” about its rules.

The council may have a discussion about its meeting rules in the coming weeks.