Houlton residents are up in arms over a new council policy limiting free speech by banning critical comments during town meetings.
Under the new rule, taxpayers who make comments at council sessions cannot criticize town officials or staff.
Besides restricting the content of the public comments, the new guidelines will also limit each speaker to two minutes.
Previously there were no limits on how long someone could talk or who they could choose to criticize.
The clampdown on public speech comes in the wake of residents complaining about town-owned spy cams that were installed throughout the community.
What made them even more irate was that some of the cameras and the attendant software were allegedly being used by town staff to look up information about locals.
Council Chairwoman Jane Torres defended the new limits on comments during meetings.
“The procedure was put in place to help the chair run a smoother meeting,” Torres told the local newspaper. “Public comment is a time for the citizen to speak their concerns, it is not a time for debate.”
Houlton businessman Patrick Bruce is quite put off by the new council limits.
Bruce said they “quite honestly could be construed as chilling people’s free speech.”
He also happens to be one of the chief critics of the spy cams.
