T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY — Marshalltown resident Jim Shaw is pictured interacting with Marshalltown Police Department Capt. Chris Jones during a June 24 meeting. On Monday night, Shaw indicated that he would no longer be able to speak about pitbull attacks during meetings at the direction of Mayor Joel Greer.

Marshalltown man Jim Shaw has been attending city council meetings for more than a year now to share stories of dog attacks both here and elsewhere and call for a citywide ban on the pitbull breed. Shaw again stepped forward to the speaking podium during the public comment period on Monday night, but this time, he claimed he was no longer allowed to address his most frequent topic of concern.

“This evening, at the direction of the mayor, I will not be speaking about my usual subject, nor will I be speaking about it in the future. I do not want to risk my attendance at future council meetings,” Shaw said.

In a lengthy email from Mayor Joel Greer to Shaw dated July 10, the contents of which Greer voluntarily shared with the T-R, the mayor said he had reached a point with Shaw where he was “going to have to quit responding to all of your text messages, calls and complaints.”

“At council meetings, the rules bar me from responding to your open mic comments, and I am unlikely to respond to you when it is the councilors and my turn to make comments,” Greer wrote. “The reasons? You are taking an inordinate amount of my time and attention compared to the other 28,000+ residents, staff, councilors, other mayors, media and investors. Rather than replying to your text yesterday about a new pitbull but no-bite dog case, and your text today asking if a ticket was written, I am going to leave that work to the police department and, if it was involved, the (Animal Rescue League). I have way more important things to attend to for the city than to be the errand boy calling the police to see if they wrote a ticket. Just like in every other city in Iowa, our cops do have the discretion to stop or not stop speeders, give a ticket or warning or nothing; same with loose dogs.”

Recounting his own experiences as a longtime trial lawyer representing clients in several dog bite cases, Greer also told Shaw that attempts to ban pitbulls in other Iowa cities have largely been ineffective and said he had considered putting a task force together on the issue before current ARL of Marshalltown Executive Director Austin Gillis was hired.

“So, bottom line, I have listened carefully to you, done my own research, and am still waiting for input. But, it’s the council, not the mayor, who has the vote to change ordinances. For many months, the council has listened to your repeated pleas to ban pitbulls. Never has one of them made a motion to do so,” Greer wrote. “Though you have the power to continue to use the public comment session, I do have the power to cut off speakers on topics that have become repetitive. I am on the cusp of doing so.”

The mayor then responded to Shaw’s recent comments and criticisms on other topics, including the handling of the Cartwright Downtown Farmer’s Market, the naming rights for a dog park Shaw unsuccessfully sought to dedicate to his late wife and an alleged altercation that unfolded between Shaw and Gillis before a recent city council meeting.

On the dog park matter, Greer disputed the amount of Shaw’s donation (“I am told your contribution was actually only $2,000, not the $4,000 you claimed it was,” he wrote) before recounting he and his wife Sharon’s history of philanthropy related to various projects in the community.

“None of these financial or time contributions has resulted in naming rights to anything. So, though the council and I, and probably the others attending the council meeting, are sorry that you lost your wife, and understand you wanted recognition for her or you related to the dog park, your complaint against some former city staff person is neither valid nor something the council is probably going to address now,” Greer wrote.

On Monday night, Shaw said he had reviewed the YouTube video of the June 10 meeting and “clearly stated” that he would have donated $4,000 if the park had been named for his late wife. Instead, he only donated $2,000 after his request was denied.

Finally, Greer addressed Shaw’s dispute with Gillis, positing that Shaw’s statements might “border on slander and a threat of assault,” according to “some lawyers.” Referencing the impending hire of new City Administrator Carol Webb, the mayor said he was thankful Shaw did not go on a personal rant about another citizen but was less pleased with his other actions.

“I do not appreciate that you demanded an apology before agreeing to meet, and I will not let your disagreement distract the council and me from taking care of real city business,” Greer wrote.

From there, Greer referred to an unnamed city councilor who claimed that Shaw, a taekwondo and karate instructor and sixth-degree black belt master, had a reputation for going into bars during his younger years, goading patrons into fights and “beating them up.” Shaw specifically addressed those allegations during Monday night’s meeting.

“This is not true, and I have many witnesses that I hung out with at that time to refute those statements. There was an individual who tested for his black belt the same day I did at Iowa State University, and after he got his black belt, he did go to bars, pick fights and beat some people up. I can get some people to testify to that too, but I did not pick fights and I even had discussions with him about giving black belts a bad name,” Shaw said. “He ignored me.”

In his email, Greer recalled he and his daughter were students of Shaw’s and remembered his instructions about self-control and respect.

“Maybe you gained more of those qualities as you moved through the degrees of belts, but your recent comment to me that you would not get physical with Austin (Gillis) if there were more than two people around to see it made me question whether I needed to make sure (Police Chief Mike) Tupper or an officer was at the next meeting, so he sent (MPD Capt.) Kiel Stevenson because Tupper was away on a family vacation,” Greer wrote. “As mayor and city administrator, I have more important duties and things to do than to have to make sure you won’t assault another citizen at a council meeting that was likely to be watched by our (city administrator) candidate.”

In conclusion, Greer told Shaw he should not expect him to continue responding to his private complaints.

“And I will probably start cutting off your diatribes about pitbulls at council meetings,” he wrote.

Randy Evans, the executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, told the T-R that the mayor and council have “considerable latitude” in setting the public comment parameters at their meetings.

“As you know, a city council could ban all public forum opportunities. Or it could set limits for how long a person could speak. Or a council could establish a sliding scale for the public forum — with repeat speakers being allowed to speak for shorter periods of time,” he said. “So the mayor has a lot of leeway.”

During council meetings, public commenters in Marshalltown are allowed to speak for three minutes unless they are granted authorization to go longer by the mayor. State law, Evans added, is “silent” on the matter, but First Amendment issues could arise if Shaw was banned from speaking entirely, “especially if others were permitted to speak repeatedly on different topics from pitbulls.”

Evans also referenced a case in nearby Newton, where Noah Peterson was arrested twice after he criticized the mayor and police chief in public comments at a pair of city council meetings in 2022. Peterson was found not guilty in the first case, and the city dismissed the charges in the second. He has since brought a federal lawsuit against the city of Newton for violating his First, Fourth and 14th Amendment rights.

“The mayor of Marshalltown comes across as very cautious and mindful of the limits on his authority,” Evans said. “That’s why I think there would be a way for the city to limit the duration of someone’s remarks when they talk week after week about one topic.”

When reached for comment on Wednesday, Shaw said he plans to read an article about the First Amendment from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) at the next city council meeting, and at the meeting after that, he intends to continue talking about dogs.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com