Meeting attendees pack the court room for a Tarrant County Commissioners Court meeting at the Tarrant County Administration Building in Fort Worth on Tuesday, June 3, 2025.
Chris Torres
ctorres@star-telegram.com
At the first meeting under new public comment guidelines, Tarrant County Commissioners Court attendees made sure County Judge Tim O’Hare knew they would keep showing up and raising concerns.
In February, the commissioners voted 3-2 along party lines to adopt a new public comment policy that greatly reduces speaking opportunities for the public. The policy also puts public comment near the top of the agenda, which had been widely requested.
The primary topic among the roughly 40 people signed up to speak was about deaths in the county jail, but a few noted their disdain for only having a couple of minutes to address the entire agenda packet.
“Notice we are still here hanging on to participate in the public discourse,” Harriet Harral said. “That’s the heart and soul of democracy.”
Some passed out handouts describing what they would have talked about if they were speaking under the old public comment policy, which allowed speakers to sign up on as many items as they wanted to talk on. Others coordinated to use their consecutive time slots to read off of the same script, starting where the person before them hand been cut off.
The Republican commissioners have been repeatedly rebuked for steadily reducing the public’s ability to participate. In August, the commissioners split 3-2 along party lines to reduce the number of Commissioners Court meetings to once a month. In 2023, the court met four times a month.
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Rachel Royster is a news and government reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, specifically focused on Tarrant County. She joined the newsroom after interning at the Austin American-Statesman, the Waco Tribune-Herald and Capital Community News in DC. A Houston native and Baylor grad, Rachel enjoys traveling, reading and being outside. She welcomes any and all news tips to her email.