NORTH PALM BEACH — Citing concerns over employee safety and potential disruptions to daily government operations by First Amendment auditors, North Palm Beach has restricted audio and video recording inside village-owned properties and designating which areas the public can access.
The five-member Village Council on April 23 unanimously gave final approval to an ordinance that prohibits recording in Village Hall and other properties without the consent of all persons being recorded.
Village officials cited the growing trend nationally and statewide of so-called First Amendment audits as a factor in amending the village code. They led Palm Beach Gardens to pass a similar ordinance in 2023.
North Palm says rule protects employees from daily disruptions
First Amendment audits are generally described as a form of activism where a person attempts to enter and remain on a publicly owned property to video record employees, elected officials and operations while asserting a right to record in public spaces.
“Like many communities, the Village of North Palm Beach has experienced situations where activity inside government buildings has disrupted daily operations and impacted staff’s ability to serve residents,” Village Manager Chuck Huff said in a prepared statement.
“This ordinance establishes reasonable guidelines that distinguish public areas from employee workspaces, consistent with established First Amendment principles.”
Huff did not reference any specific incidents involving First Amendment auditors. He said the ordinance “is intended to provide clarity and consistency regarding public access within Village facilities, while fully respecting constitutional rights.”
However, a past president and legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union’s Florida chapter said the ordinance raised a potential First Amendment concern, particularly as it pertains to recording.
“Generally speaking, if you’re in a public space, you have a right to record public officials performing their public duties, ” attorney James K. Green said. “If you’re in a hallway or a common area, a Village Hall, if the hallway area is a place where citizens interact with public officials, I would think you probably have a right to record there.”
ACLU raises questions about ‘legitimate public business’ rule
North Palm Beach’s ordinance designates employee work areas within the Village Hall, library, the public safety building and other village properties as nonpublic forums, meaning that the public is prohibited from entering those spaces unless an employee accompanies them.
It designates all other areas within those buildings as limited public forums with “only persons whoare present to engage in legitimate public business” being authorized to enter.
It gives Huff, his designee or a village police officer the authority to ask a person to leave, and to issue a trespass warning if the person refuses. The warning would be valid for up to two years unless a special magistrate reverses it on appeal, and it could subject the recipient to a subsequent arrest for criminal trespass if the person returns to the same property.
During a first reading of the ordinance, Village Attorney Leonard Rubin said the proposed changes were born largely out of concern for the safety of village employees and the need to keep unauthorized persons from areas not designated for public access.
“It’s really aimed at people who are here not to conduct village business,” he said during the subsequent reading on April 23.
“Anybody who is here is to conduct village business, who is here for a public meeting, of course is welcome. But also, we want to make sure that the employees feel safe in their own work areas and they don’t have people just walking through the work areas.”
Auditor recordings are meant to ‘provoke,’ council member says
Rubin noted in his remarks that a person attending a publicly noticed meeting, such as a Village Council meeting, would have the right to record.
Council member Kendra Zellner said she supported the ordinance as a measure to spare North Palm Beach employees from harassment from those seeking video content to post online.
“I have seen these videos on social media, and that’s what this is all about,” she said. ‘It’s to provoke employees to get a response, and to harass them until they get a reaction.”
However, one resident spoke in opposition to the ordinance, describing it as “the beginning of an attack on the First Amendment.”
John Samadi told council members he believed the ordinance would give overly broad powers to the village manager. He argued that whatever can be seen in a public area is open to being recorded.
Green questioned how the village will determine what constitutes legitimate public business.
“Who decides what is legitimate?” he said. “If they don’t say what’s legitimate and just leave it to the village manager, it will not pass constitutional muster.”
He also expressed concern about the powers given to the village manager, noting the potential legal ramifications one could face if a trespass warning subsequently leads to an arrest for criminal trespass, a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail.
“If a government official decides how to classify or determine which space is a public forum or nonpublic forum, and to decide who does and does not have so-called legitimate business there, it would allow the village manager and the village to decide who can speak and who can’t under penalty of arrest and prosecution,” Green said.
Julius Whigham II covers northern Palm Beach County and public safety for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: North Palm limits ‘First Amendment audit’ recordings at Village Hall
Reporting by Julius Whigham II, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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