HomeMy WebLinkAboutR-16-03 Florida Legislature to Support Public RecordRESOLUTION NO. R-16-03
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF SEBASTIAN, INDIAN RIVER COUNTY,
FLORIDA URGING THE FLORIDA LEGISLATURE TO SUPPORT PUBLIC
RECORDS REFORM TO DISCOURAGE OR ELIMINATE SCHEMES DESIGNED
TO GENERATE VIOLATIONS OF PUBLIC RECORDS LAWS, AS WELL AS LIMIT
HARASSING PUBLIC RECORDS REQUESTS; PROVIDING FOR CONFLICT AND
AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
WHEREAS, The City Council of the City of Sebastian believes that access to public records
is a fundamental right and understands that cities, as well as numerous other governmental entities,
are required to comply with the public records laws in Chapter 119, Florida Statutes, and while
every city incurs some level of expenses in complying with public records requests, numerous cities
have incurred extraordinary or unreasonable costs; and
WHEREAS, several individuals and entities around the State have developed a "cottage
industry" designed to produce technical violations of the public records laws; and
WHEREAS, these schemes are designed to do nothing more than raid the public treasury at
the expense of tax payers; and
WHEREAS, the City Council is advocating for legislation currently being considered in SB
1220 and HB 1021, which does two things: (1) requires an individual to send written notice of the
public record request at least five business days before filing a lawsuit in order to be entitled to an
award of attorney fees and costs, and (2) make a one word change of "shall" to "may" so that when
a suit is filed, a judge is granted discretion to decide whether or not to award attorney's fees based
on the facts presented.
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
SEBASTIAN AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The City declares its support for public records reform to discourage or
eliminate schemes designed to generate violations of public records laws as well as limit harassing
public records requests.
SECTION 2. CONFLICT. All resolutions or parts of resolutions in conflict herewith are
hereby repealed.
SECTION 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Resolution shall take effect upon its adoption.
The foregoing Resolution was pjwssed for adoption by Council Member lNdAh�.—,
was seconded by Council Member and upon being put to a vote, the vote was as
follows:
Mayor Richard Gillmor
Vice Mayor Jerome Adams
Councilmember Andrea Coy
Councilmember Jim Hill
Councilmember Bob McPartlan
The Mayor thereupon declared this Resolution duly passed and adopted this /0 day of
2016.
CITY OF SEBASTI tORIDA
By:
ri Imor, Mayor
ATTE
Sally A. Ma' , MMC. y�
City Clerk
Approved as to Form and Content for
Reliance by the City of Sebastian Only:
Wobert A. Ginsburg, City Attorney