Minutes 06-02-2022 Budget Public Hearing and Work Session

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15 to make a distinction for someone that is advocating for personal or civil rights and someone that is opposed to something. He said that he has a problem with the subject. He said he is struggling to sacrifice liberty for every moment someone should feel safe. He said that he does not know where the dividing line is. He said he is not comfortable saying that someone that does not agree with something has to stand 1,000 feet away from the property. John Roberts said there is no way to make a distinction of the content of speech. He said they cannot do that. He said that the only standards of conduct are content-neutral, safety driven restrictions. He said that would be no firearms or weapons, opposing pickets must be separated, and pickets cannot block freedom of movement or access. Commissioner McKee said they have been told stories about what people were saying, and that is content. He said that he agrees with what the ordinance says about weapons, and he feels that the size of the sign support should be smaller than it is currently drafted. He said that a 1" x 2" stake for a sign is a weapon. He said that his problem is who makes the subjective decision as to whether his behavior has crossed the line and there is no way they can write that up. Commissioner Hamilton said she agreed with Commissioner Bedford about the limit being any person and with the 1,000 feet buffer. She said that she wants to remove the age requirement of being eighteen and have it read primary and secondary education. She said the Board is not trying to control behavior but rather create a reasonable limit on where folks can be and to help maintain safe learning environments for students. She said that there are so many ways to protest, and this is not saying they cannot come to school board meetings or to the Whitted Building. She said that parents can also email to complain about the schools. She said that this is reasonable to protect children who at their development level, cannot deal with stress the way an adult can. Chair Price thanked the County Attorney for drafting the ordinance. She said she did not understand why county property needed to be combined with school property. She asked if they could put the 1,000-foot limit around the schools. She said that the safety concerns they are trying to address are around the school children, teachers, and faculty/staff. She said that she would like to address county property limitations later because many civil rights movements were addressed by picketing. She said she would like to focus on schools and limit people being able to come on school property. John Roberts said that references to county owned property can be removed. He said the United States Supreme Court has held that private property owners can have limits placed on their property once they have invited the public onto the property. He said that 1,000 feet can go up and down the sidewalk, all linear distances, or from certain boundaries from the schools. He said this could include private properties across the street. Commissioner Hamilton had a follow-up question on distance and if a property is private or not. She asked if she heard correctly that if the county does 1,000 feet and applies it to private property, that the regulation could be challenged. John Roberts said it could be challenged. He said the United State Supreme Court issued a decision that if a private property owner invites the public on to the private property for the purpose of a public demonstration or public activities, that it can be regulated as if it were public property. Commissioner Fowler asked if there are county properties where it would be unsafe to have picketers. John Roberts said yes, and he gave an example of picketers at a solid waste convenience center, which created a limited public forum for that picket. He said that if someone else wanted to picket at the solid waste convenience center, the county would have to allow it. He said it was an unsafe place to allow demonstrations and picketing, and that there are likely others.