The City of Hamilton is looking to get more feedback from the community by allowing members of the public to ask questions during board meetings.At a public meeting at City Hall, board members discussed a motion that would create a period where audience members could ask questions.Each audience member would be given up to three minutes to ask one question.A total of 15 minutes would be allotted for the question segment, but the board would be able to extend or reduce that time.Should the board be unable to answer the question, they would be able to defer the response until the next meeting.Mayor Charles Gosling said: “The obligation is to answer, but not at that particular moment in time.”He said that opening the meetings for questions was an important step to improving transparency and accountability within the Corporation.“I feel that after 200 years’ worth of closed doors and ruling by silence, in two years, we have gone so far.”The proposal is expected to come again before the board during their meeting in September. Another issue discussed was a letter e-mailed to the board regarding the lighting situation at the Front Street docks.The writer said lighting in the area needed to be improved; Mr Gosling said that the city simply didn’t have the money in the budget.“It’s something we had on our budget,” he said. “Unfortunately, with the cut in our revenue, we have had to make cuts and this is one of the cuts we had to make.”The board agreed to write a letter to both the Government and Stevedoring Services Ltd to determine if an agreement could allow new lighting to be funded.The board also discussed the issue of vagrants in the city, with Mr Gosling saying that he would be meeting with Government to discuss the problem.He said that in one recent incident, a group of people had to be repeatedly thrown off a private boat.“This is not a good reflection of Bermuda or its capital city,” he said.The board said there was a concern that the city was losing control over some areas, such as Albouy’s Point.“One of our familiar individuals, who is constantly being reported on our properties, the last time he was standing before the Magistrate, the Magistrate decided that it was not a criminal issue, being drunk and unconscious, but a social issue,” Mr Gosling said. “I can see the police being reluctant to pursue the issue if that’s the reaction in the courts.”Another point of discussion was the possibility of regulating sandwich boards used to advertise businesses in Hamilton.