Houlton’s new limit on criticizing town staff may violate 1st Amendment, experts say

Houlton’s new limit on criticizing town staff may violate 1st Amendment, experts say

HOULTON, Maine — The Houlton Town Council this week announced new procedural rules banning any public complaints or allegations against town employees during meetings, a move constitutional experts say may violate First Amendment protections of free speech. Besides restricting the content of the public comments, the new guidelines will also limit each speaker to two minutes. While the two-minute limit is constitutional if it’s applied evenly, ba…