Chicago Transit Board
Committee on Finance, Audit & Budget
Committee on Transit Services
Committee on Human Resources
Committee on Strategic Planning
Public comment for the Chicago Transit Board and its standing committees listed above is accepted at the Chicago Transit Board’s regularly scheduled monthly meetings held at the Chicago Transit Authority’s headquarters, 567 W. Lake St., Chicago, Illinois on the 2nd Floor in the Board Room. The procedures set forth below apply to public comments made before the Board. These rules are subject to change without notice.
Short form to fill out to speak at a Board or Committee meeting. Confirmation of speaking requests, to the CTA Board and to the CTA Board Committees, are only confirmed after the CTA Board Office is in receipt of, and acknowledges receipt of, the signed speaker request form. Be sure to read the information below before submitting your form. A signed speaker request form is only valid for one Board meeting.
1. Date and Time
The regularly scheduled meetings of the Chicago Transit Board are on the second Wednesday of each month at 10:00 a.m. except when otherwise cancelled or rescheduled by special notice. Any meeting of any of the Board’s standing committees generally take place on the same day as the regularly scheduled Board meeting directly before the meeting of the full Board. In most cases, the period for all public comment will take place during the Board meeting and will be one of the first items on the Board’s agenda.
All public comment speakers must sign in at the 2nd floor Customer Service Desk, at 567 W. Lake Street, by 9:55 a.m. on the day of the Board meeting. Failure to arrive and sign in by 9:55 a.m. will result in the speaker losing his or her speaking reservation.
Meeting dates are subject to change, so please access the Meetings, Agendas and Minutes page to confirm the actual date and time of each month's meeting.
2. Speaker Selection
A maximum of five speakers may appear before the Board each month, with each speaker allotted three minutes to address the Board. Speakers who wish to address items on the meeting day’s agenda for any Committee or the Board shall have priority for the five available speaker slots.
Individuals who wish to speak at Board meetings must contact the Office of the Secretary of the Board no later than 10:00 a.m. the day before each Board meeting. Individuals will be selected on a first-come, first-served basis, with the exception that, as stated above, speakers who wish to address items on the day’s agenda will have priority. The Office of the Secretary also reserves the right to give further priority to individuals who have not recently addressed the Board. With respect to non-agenda items, the Office of the Secretary reserves the right to give priority to those speakers who wish to address matters which have not recently been brought to the attention of the Board or its Committees. Potential speakers should complete a short form which can be found here and email that form to PublicComments@transitchicago.com no later than 10:00 a.m. the day prior to the Board meeting. Speakers may also fax the form to 312-681-5035. Alternatively, potential speakers without computer access may contact us by phone or email:
a. Phone: 312-681-5022
b. Mail: CTA, Office of the Secretary, 567 W. Lake Street, Chicago, Illinois 60661-1498
Potential speakers must include some form of contact information in order to receive confirmation as to whether or not they may speak at the Board meeting.
3. Speaker Identification and Limitations
Before the meeting begins, each potential speaker must complete and sign the form referred to above. The potential speaker is required to identify name, address, and phone number (address and phone number will remain confidential), as well as the topic of her/his comments. Comments should be limited to topics within the purview of the Board and its Committees. Comments regarding pending bids or containing explicit political endorsements or constituting personal attacks or containing obscenity or otherwise disrupting the business to be conducted at the meeting will not be allowed. Anyone who does not agree to these terms will not be allowed to speak. Moreover, persons who fail to abide by the terms of this policy while speaking at the Board meeting may be escorted from the proceedings.
4. Written Comments
Written comments for the Board and its Committees will be accepted at Board meetings, whether from speakers during the public comment period of a meeting or from individuals who wish to speak but are not selected. The comments will be distributed at the Board meeting. As with the terms for spoken comments, matters outside the purview of the Board and its Committees or which relate to pending bids or which contain explicit political endorsements, personal attacks or obscenity, will not be accepted.
Individuals may provide written comments via fax, e-mail, or regular mail as outlined above no later than 2 days before the meeting.
5. Record Keeping
Transcripts of all spoken comments and copies of all written comments will be kept in the Office of the Secretary and will be made part of the permanent record of the Board proceedings. Individuals who wish to access the public comments must contact the CTA’s Freedom of Information Office.