County Supervisors to Debut New Public Comment Sign-Up System Tuesday

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meets Tuesday with a new public comment registration system in place, changing how Altadena and Pasadena residents sign up to address the five supervisors who govern unincorporated Altadena.

Altadena has no city council of its own, so the Board decides its fire recovery matters, and two are on Tuesday’s agenda. The county announced the change in a news release Monday, describing a system supported by the vendor PublicInput that replaces call-in access codes with online registration, a text message when an item comes up and a voice announcement of the speaker’s name.

A speaker registers once, whether commenting on one item or several, chooses to appear in person or by phone, selects the items and marks For, Against or Neutral on each. Callers dial in from the number they gave at registration. Speakers appearing in person check in at a kiosk. A caller who is disconnected keeps their place in line, according to the county. Speakers have one minute per item, and donation of time is not permitted.

Board Executive Officer Edward Yen said in the release that the system “removes the barriers that have historically kept people from making their voices heard.”

Need to know: The Regular Meeting of the Board of Supervisors is Tuesday, Sept. 1, at 9:30 a.m. in Board Hearing Room 381B, Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, 500 West Temple St., Los Angeles, and is open to the public. Registration to speak opens at 9 a.m. that day at publiccomment.lacounty.gov; call-in speakers dial (213) 444-2600. Written comment: publiccomment.bos.lacounty.gov. General information: (213) 974-1411. Televised 11 p.m. Wednesday on KLCS.