The Plano City Council meeting on Dec. 11, 2023, was delayed after a disturbance during the public comment portion of the meeting and a suspicious bag was found by officers.
The meeting began as normal but because of the large number of speakers signed up for the meeting, the council limited their time to one minute each. But a conflict between a speaker and the council led to a brief recess.
“Mayor John Muns called a recess during last night’s city council meeting,” Director of Media Relations Steve Stoler told Local Profile. “During the recess, a safety concern led to the evacuation of the Municipal Center. Council members will resume their regular meeting at 4:30 this afternoon.”
According to Plano Magazine, the first speaker was Saba Saiyed, a mother from Plano and a member of the Plano ISD Diversity Board Citizen Advisory Committee. Saiyed asked the council to advocate for a ceasefire in Gaza, highlighting the Israel-Hamas conflict.
After 14 speakers, many of whom exceeded their allotted time, Mayor John Muns decided to conclude the open comment section due to exceeding the scheduled time. When the next individual in line was denied the opportunity to speak, she passionately appealed to the council to let her express her thoughts. Muns's attempt to manage the situation was interrupted by an unnamed woman who persistently called for a ceasefire, prompting Muns to call for a recess. Unfortunately, the meeting never resumed.
“I apologize, but we can’t keep going. This is comments of public interest, we have a time [limit],” Muns said during the meeting. “First of all, I want to thank everyone who spoke this evening on the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. The priority of the city of Plano continues to be keeping all of our residents safe.”
However, the city council was unable to resume following the recess. According to Community Impact, Plano officers found an unattended bag, leading them to instruct the remaining individuals in the building to evacuate, relocating them to the city's technology services building due to suspicions of an explosive device within the unclaimed bag.
According to Plano Police, as a precaution, additional police units were dispatched and officers conducted a thorough security assessment of the area. The Hazardous Device Unit was dispatched to the scene and found the backpack to be safe.
The city council meeting will resume on Dec 12, 2023, at 4:30 p.m.
