(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)

Kamloops city council is taking another run at managing public input at their public meetings.

After seemingly settling on a process that requires people to pre-register and cite the topic they want to speak to, the first person on the agenda "abused" the system, according to councillor Margot Middleton. They referred to themselves as "Al Koeholic" (presumably a prank name).

Coun. Middleton called for an immediate suspension to allowing the public to speak.

"Because we have already seen an issue with this. Our first opportunity out has already been abused," she said in response to Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson's questioning on May 27.

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For years council had a laissez-faire approach that allowed anyone to ask about meeting topics for the day, but it looked to place limits over the past year. The time slot for the public was temporarily removed and, after multiple debates and hours of staff time, council adopted a pre-registration system.

The first meeting under the new rules saw one person register, specifying they wanted to speak to a presentation about one of the city's homeless shelters. Though it was included on an advance version of the agenda, the name was removed from the City website by Tuesday morning, and Al Koeholic was a no-show.

Hamer-Jackson had apparently not seen the name and asked multiple times for someone to explain why, after multiple debates on the topic, public participation should be removed again.

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"I will not read it out," Middleton said to him.

Others had seen it, though no one would publicly say what specifically spurred Middleton to propose the rules be revised again. The proposal also didn't get consensus among council.

Hamer-Jackson said he still preferred council return to the old rules, which simply required the public to inquire about agenda-related topics, later adding a five-minute limit.

Councillor Katie Neustaeter said it had already been debated "ad nauseum," while councillor Dale Bass said mistreatment from a few shouldn't dictate how council business is run.

"I understand why you're doing this," Neustaeter said to Middleton. "I can't support it. I still believe we are reacting to a small group of people who decide to misuse this opportunity, but I think that's wrong."

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The five-minute rule, along with the placement of bylaw officers as security in council chambers, came following the last municipal election as meetings slowly devolved.

Councillors have said they have faced harassment from the public, causing security risks. Some heated speakers have been seen yelling to city officials during meetings, while others have heckled council from the gallery.

The final straw, however, was last September when someone called in through the livestream and played pornography. It took up a section of the livestream video and the audio played loudly during a council meeting.

Those issues have largely been non-existent since the public was barred temporarily from speaking at the microphone early this year.

With only Hamer-Jackson and Bass voting against another suspension of public input, Middleton's motion passed. The public won't be able to speak at council meetings until at least 2026, when the ban could be reconsidered and debated again.

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