City Commission Agenda - 4/21

One of the items that jumped off the agenda - besides the one about the birds and the bees - comes from Commissioner Mulvehill about the banning of Blackberry and other devices that send and receive messages during a City Commission meeting. The memo from the Commissioner is very general and doesn't just refer to City Commissioners and the Mayor. Which it should.

We in Florida are protected by the Sunshine Law which has a broad public infromation law that makes any city related communication public information to and from an elected or appointed official - and city staff. I have always had a problem with officials using those devices during meetings to send or receive messages. I also have a problem with Commissioners calling in for attendance during meetings for many of the same reasons. The public has a right to know what is contained in those messages if it relates to the proceedings going on at the time. If it is regarding other city related business, that is part of the public record as well. This has been schooled into me during various annual initiations on the various public boards that I current sit on, or have been a member in the past. That includes text and e-mail messages from private e-mail accounts. Especially sensitive would be any communication during meetings - and this is even more true during quasi-judicial hearings (like appeals) where the City Commission should only be presented information on which to base their decision at that particular public forum - not from another source.

So, yes, I favor the ban related to people on the dais using such devices. The way the memo is written makes it seem like it would ban the use of the same devices by the public. This is something that can't happen - freedom of speech comes to mind at the top of the list, but what about the simple convenience of having someone in the audience that is monitoring the progress of a meeting. Many times I have been able to text to people that were waiting for an item to appear that it was about to come up so they wouldn't miss it. Likewise, there are family emergencies, both small and large, that periodically need attending to and the need to know about those is important. If the ban did include the public, it is just another way the city is limiting the way information is delivered about the goings-on at public meetings - something that we have come to expect with this Commission - with it's mid-morning meetings, hardly publicized meetings and the like.