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speaking and will be distributed to the Council. For distribution of hard copies to Councilors, eight copies should be provided ; however, electronic distribution is preferred and may be sent to council@charlottesville.org . Power point presentations cannot be accommodated during Matters by the Public. iii. After an individual comple tes his or her remarks to Council, any Councilor or the City Manager may respond as they see fit. To assure the orderly progress of the meeting, the presiding officer shall ensure that, collectively, responses to any individual’s remarks will not exceed a period of approximately two minutes. iv. Remarks that cannot readily be addressed within the Councilors’ response time may be referred to the City Manager by the Mayor, with a request that the City Manager bring back a response at the meeting immediately f ollowing the present meeting. 2. Public hearings – From time to time, Council will conduct public hearings on specific topics as required by law or as Council otherwise deems appropriate. The purpose of a public hearing is for Council to receive public comments on a specific topic. a. Sign -up sheets are provided at the front of the room. Speakers will be called from that list, as time permits. b. After all speakers on the sign -up list have been called, other individuals will be invited to speak, until e veryone who wishes to speak on the topic has had a chance to do so. c. During a public hearing, each speaker must limit his or her comments to the specific application or matter for which the public hearing has been scheduled. d. No person may speak more t han once during any public hearing. Each person who speaks during a public hearing will be limited to a maximum time of three minutes. e. Prior to opening a Public Hearing, Council may, by motion, limit the number of speakers who will be heard, and/or redu ce the time for each speaker to two (2) minutes, upon determining that the session could not be commenced in a timely manner. 3. Town Hall meetings – Town Hall meetings are generally conducted in an open format. Council may conduct a Town Hall meeting in a manner that is free -form (no limit on the time for making a comment or stating a question, or for Councilors’ responses,) or Council may establish an agenda or list of topics that will apply for a particular Town Hall meeting, and times or guidelines fo r speakers’ questions and Councilors’ responses. Any parameters that will apply to a Town Hall will be established by the Mayor prior to the meeting or by vote of Council after calling the Town Hall meeting to order and prior to opening the floor. Prior to commencing the session, attendees shall be notified of any applicable time limits or speaker guidelines, either by posted signs, a written agenda or verbal announcement by Council at the beginning of the meeting. 4. Written Comments – To provide an addit ional mechanism to communicate with Council, a “Submit a Comment to City Council” form is provided on the City w ebsite for electronically submitting comments. These comments are distributed to all Council members. Citizens may also contact Councilors via their City email addresses (available on the City’s website) or by written correspondence sent in care of the Cle rk of Council. E. Recess