After hearing two residents lob questions at the board during Slatington Borough Council's Monday night meeting, newly hired board solicitor Tom Anewalt of Dimmich, Dinkelacker and Anewalt P.C. told residents, "There will be a change in how public comment is received."

Carol Gildner was firstto speak. She asked the council several questions back to back about the collection of the fees generated for landlords and renters for recently adopted Ordinance 674. The board did not comment on any of Gildner's questions.Resident Kris Burek also aimed several questions at council on the same ordinance. She asked who would enforce the ordinance, and who would hold Councilman Bryon Reed accountable for his properties. Burek also read a handful of comments from her borough-centered website, saying the comments and questions came to her from other residents.After speaking for the allotted five minutes and showing no signs of slowing down, President Gwyneth Jones informed Burek her time was up.Burek argued she had "30 seconds to wrap up."Jones struck her gavel on the desk, telling Burek she was out of order and over time."We are going to start following the rules tonight. If you want to get up and speak, you have five minutes," Anewalt said.Mel Gildner also asked questions centering on the enforcement of a parking ordinance."We don't want to have our public officials being cross-examined," Anewalt said. "If you have questions, call the borough office, or put the questions in writing and we will do our best to get back to you."When Walnutport resident and Slatington borough located business owner Michael Meyers took the podium, he told the solicitor "questions are typically asked at meetings."He also had concerns with the rental property Ordinance 674 telling the council that the borough's website is not up to date and the code is not available online. Meyers took issue with being charged 25 cents per page for a copy of the ordnance.Anewalt explained again to the residents that public comment is "not public questions or public grilling.""The questions are loaded and we're going to try to bring order to the meetings. Grandstanding on a meeting night is not the way to do it. I'll talk to anyone after the meeting if there are questions," Anewalt said.