Public Participation

City of Rockford Public Participation Regulations allow for a maximum of five members of the public may speak for up to three minutes each at each meeting. A written request to address City Council must be submitted to the City of Rockford Legal Department, no later than 3 pm on the day of the council meeting in which you’d like to speak, and no earlier than one week prior to the meeting.

View the Public Participation Request Form (PDF) or complete the online version below:

City Council Meeting Public Participation Request

  2. I request to speak during the public participation portion of the next City Council / Committee meeting in City Council Chambers. I will have the ability to address those present but understand that this will not be a question-and-answer format.

  11. Speaker Interest

  23. This completed Public Participation form must be received by the City of Rockford Legal Department no later than 3 pm on the day of the meeting in which you would like to participate. The Legal Department will call the above-listed phone number to confirm or if, for any reason, your request cannot be honored.

    24. Leave This Blank:

  26. This field is not part of the form submission.

Public Participation Regulations

See Rule 21, Sec. 2-31, City of Rockford Code of Ordinances:

  1. Speakers must file a written request with the City Council Clerk, Legal Department, on the form provided by the Legal Department. The form shall include the name of the speaker, subject matter, speaker’s interest (pro or con) and the speaker’s telephone number. The written request must be received by the Legal Department no later than 3 pm on the day of the meeting which the speaker wishes to address. Each request to speak at a meeting must be submitted on a separate form, and the forms may not be submitted more than one week prior to the meeting the speaker wished to address.
  2. Each speaker shall be limited to three minutes to address the council members. No visual aids may be used by the speakers during the meeting. Speakers may submit written material to the clerk with their written request. If the speaker wishes all aldermen to have a copy of the written material, the speaker shall submit 15 copies of the material to the clerk.
  3. Speakers may address an item on the agenda for that meeting, or may address city issues; however, speakers may not address zoning items or pending or threatened litigation involving the City of Rockford.
  4. Speakers shall be selected based on the order in which they have filed their requests with the clerk, except that the mayor give preference to persons to speak that represent each side of a matter on the agenda for that week over persons who wish to address city services generally. Any person not allowed to speak at a meeting due to the number of speakers, limit five speakers per meeting, shall be advised by telephone by the clerk and given the opportunity to verbally request on or before the next Friday to speak at the next meeting.