HOLLIDAYSBURG — Blair County commissioners are showing interest in adopting a policy — perhaps as early as Thursday — that will restrict the public comment portion of their meetings to county residents and nonresidents who own property in the county or represent a business operating in the county.

The proposed policy, revealed publicly during Tuesday’s meeting, has been under review by commissioners Bruce Erb, Laura Burke and Amy Webster, who had draft versions.

Assistant County Administrator Allison Senkevich thanked commissioners for their input on the proposed policy that could be made available as a template for other county boards to adopt.

“The county has never had a (public comment) policy,” said solicitor Nathan Karn, who told commissioners he reviewed the one-page draft with procedures typically found in public comment policies.

Karn mentioned that prior commissioners used to restrict public comment to items on the meeting agenda. That practice was later abandoned.

In recent years, commissioners’ meetings in Blair County have drawn a minimal number of people seeking to offer public comment.

During Tuesday’s public comment period, a Mirror reporter pointed out that she couldn’t offer public comment on the proposed policy because she had no information about the proposed policy referenced on the meeting agenda.

Erb said that the proposed policy’s details would be presented during the meeting and a copy of the draft policy was provided later.

Based on information offered at the meeting, the Mirror reporter pointed out that a taxpayer from outside Blair County may be interested in providing public comment on the spending of state and federal tax dollars.

Erb said he would direct them to their state and federal representatives because those governments have al­­­ready determined how those dollars are to be spent when presented to the county.

The policy, he said, is designed to ensure that the commissioners hear from Blair County taxpayers.

“We want to hear from our residents and our constituents,” Erb said.

In her presentation about the policy, Senkevich said that everyone who wants to present public comments must state their full name, street address and municipality. If they’re not residents of Blair County, then they must also state the address of the Blair County property they own or the Blair County business they represent.

That information is to be recorded in the meeting minutes. The policy also specifies that those addressing the board are to be allowed up to three minutes to render public comment, which the policy defines as statements of opinion, information or fact. The policy states that the public comment section of the agenda is not intended to be a debate.