Public comment for the Retirement Plan for Chicago Transit Authority Employees (RPCTAE) is accepted at the RPCTAE’s regularly scheduled monthly meetings of its Board of Trustees. The guidelines set forth below apply to public comments made before the Board. These rules are subject to change without notice.
The regularly scheduled meetings of the RPCTAE Board are held on the fourth Thursday of each month at 9:30 a.m. except when otherwise cancelled or rescheduled by Board action. 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.
Board Meetings are held in downtown Chicago, but the specific location may vary by month. Dates, times and locations can be verified by accessing the Board Meeting information on the RPCTAE’s website Board Meetings Schedule page.
Individuals who wish to speak at Board meetings must contact the Executive Director no later than 9:30 a.m. the day before each Board meeting.
Prospective speakers must complete a Public Comment Form and provide it to the Executive Director prior to the meeting. Speaking requests are only confirmed after the Executive Director is in receipt of, and acknowledges receipt of, the signed speaker request form. A signed speaker request form is only valid for one Board meeting.
A maximum of three speakers may appear before the Board each month, with each speaker allotted five minutes to address the Board. The Board, at its discretion, may allow the maximum number of speakers to exceed three at any given Board Meeting.
Individuals will be selected on a first-come, first-served basis, with the exception that speakers who wish to address items on the meeting day’s agenda for the Board shall have priority for the three available speaker slots. The Executive Director also reserves the right to give further priority to individuals who have not recently addressed the Board.
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.
If the Board Meeting provides for a remote participation option, Public Comment speakers are allowed the option to appear remotely as well.
Comments should be limited to topics within the purview of the RPCTAE Board of Trustees. Groups or organizations seeking to speak on the same topic may be asked to appoint a single spokesperson. 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.
Written comments 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 should provide written comments via e-mail or regular mail to the Executive Director no later than three days before the meeting.
Transcripts of all spoken comments and copies of all written comments will be kept in the Plan Office and will be made part of the permanent record of the Board proceedings. Individuals who wish to access the public comment records should contact the Executive Director.