In fact, if you look as if you want to talk about Wal-Mart, Mayor Adam Rivas won't let you address the council in the first place. Rivas is planning to tighten the city's already-strict rule about mentioning the store, put in place after Wal-Mart applied for a building permit.
Townspeople have called it a ratcheting-down on public comment from a council that's always been reluctant to listen.
Residents have been able to say less and less about Wal-Mart at City Council meetings during the past five months, said Gregory May, who heads up a Wal-Mart opposition group in Yelm.
"Initially we couldn't use the term 'Wal-Mart,' so the code word became 'big-box stores,' " May said. "They then just announced they would no longer accept any comments about Wal-Mart or big-box stores. We've just chosen not to speak and not to challenge it."
Council members were fed up with requests that the city impose a moratorium on the large stores, and they also don't want to appear biased if an appeal of Wal-Mart's application comes before the council, said Yelm's city attorney, Brent Dille. He recommended the council stop accepting public comment about big-box retail stores to maintain the "appearance of fairness" if an appeal comes. Now Rivas plans to keep tighter control of the public's references to Wal-Mart.
"I know they're not happy they can't make comment because we've had a few people throw them in anyway," the mayor said. "Now that I've gotten the direction from the attorney, I'm going to be a lot more choosy about who I let up there."
What he means is that he knows who is opposed to Wal-Mart and who is likely to disregard the city's prohibition on box-store references, Rivas said.
"People will write something down on the sign-in sheet and then get up and talk about something different," he said. "I'd have to do it case by case."
Some citizens are stunned that they've been silenced by the people elected to represent them.
"The City Council is just shocking to me, the way they operate," Yelm resident Carol Cavanaugh said. "They seem totally out of touch with the community."
People who do speak about Wal-Mart before the City Council are reprimanded, residents say.
"They just stop you short in your tracks," said Kellie Petersen, who owns a gardening store in town.
Petersen is one of several people who have spoken up despite the restrictions.
"My issue was about traffic concerns. I knew enough to use the word 'Wal-Mart' at the very end, so I wouldn't be told to sit down," she said.
Council members have prohibited the discussion of other subjects, too.
In April, the council unanimously approved a motion banning utterance of the word "moratorium." That was in response to citizen requests that the council enact a moratorium on box stores so the city's staff could review the city's decade-old zoning.
Instead, the city passed a moratorium on moratoriums. Meeting minutes say council member Bob Isom made the motion that "no moratoriums be imposed and that the issue not be brought before the council again."
The motion was legal, Dille said.
"It's the council's meeting. They can decide what they want to hear and what they're tired of hearing," the attorney said. "It's maybe not good political practice to hush people."
Rivas said it's optional to even have a public comment period. Yelm's council meetings include 15 minutes for public comment.
"You can understand if you're barraged for two months at meetings -- the same people saying the same thing," Dille said. "The other issue is talking about Wal-Mart now that the application has been submitted."
Blocking discussion of Wal-Mart in general is a way to keep the council members from appearing prejudiced against the store, since an appeal of the project could come before the council, Dille said.
"They should not be speaking at all about it," Dille said.
People still can submit written comment to the city's community development department, said Grant Beck, head of that department.
But residents aren't making comments that will affect the planning department's decision, Beck said. The comments are about Wal-Mart in general, not about the traffic and environmental issues the city's staff will be weighing.
"What I've seen is people trying to circumvent the process. It's set up to make a good decision, but they're skipping the process and going straight to the council," Beck said. "We've gotten a lot of input but most of it is not on point with the process."
The city has received more than 100 pages of written comment from people opposed to Wal-Mart.
But the letter writers think they should also be able to talk to their council members.
Petersen addressed her letters to the council members and mayor.
"They were about the planning process and about the urban-style growth around here," the business owner said. "I just think we should be able to talk to our representatives."
Residents have had earlier problems trying to talk to the council.
When a group was considering building a NASCAR track in Yelm, the council wouldn't allow public comment, even though an application was never submitted.
"The only reason we didn't do that (allow people to talk about the proposed racetrack) is we didn't want the meeting dominated by that," Rivas said. "It wasn't a council issue. To come in and complain to the council is kind of a moot issue."
The council allows only five people to make public comment at any meeting, on any issue.
"Our City Council has taken a fairly restrictive view in general of public input," May said.
"They don't like us to bring these things up. It's kind of a blight," Petersen said. "They'll say, 'Don't talk to us now; the application's not even in.' Then when it is in, they say they can't talk about it."
The Yelm Commerce Group has said it will appeal the city's decision about Wal-Mart, which they assume will be to approve the application.
City officials say that's another reason the council shouldn't hear public comment.
