Earlier this year, the Board of Directors’ formed a bylaws task force that recommended changes to the bylaws, and which were later unanimously adopted by the full Board at their February 16 meeting. Under the bylaws, these recommendations need approval by 2/3 majority of the membership with 30-day notice is to be provided via FPA’s…
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Q. In our county, we have had multiple instances where you can see county commissioners texting each other while on the dais and one county commissioner who is taking voting advice through text messages from someone in the audience. I did a public records request for the commissioners’ text messages during the time of the…
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Recently, a bill was filed ending newspaper notice of self-storage unit liens (HB 283 by Rep. Borrero, R. Doral) by allowing them on “public websites.” Also, a bill was filed ending newspaper wrecker (towing company) lien foreclosure notices for towing/storage fees (SB 332 by Sen. Burgess R. Zephyrhills) and allowing them on a Div. of…
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Q. I have a question about agency audio records meetings. The audio recording is used to produce Robert’s Rules type minutes so there are no details – just who is present, subjects on agenda, motions made, results, etc. Once the minutes are prepared, can they destroy the audio recording immediately? A. An agency is…
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Q. We have an eye doctor in our city who wants to advertise writing prescriptions for medical marijuana for glaucoma patients- the question is he wants to use the terminology “prescription Mary Jane.” Do we have any legal problems with that? I’m not sure we will allow it either way, but first wanted to know…
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Q. Correct me if I’m wrong but in regard to Marsy’s Law, it is my understanding that if the name is provided to us by the family it’s OK to use it. This happened to us when we had the bank shooting. Over the course of a week we were able to finally get an…
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Colleagues, For nearly 40 years the First Amendment Foundation has fought for open government and access to public records, often working side-by-side with reporters and newspapers as they struggled to get information that those in power sought to keep in the shadows. Once upon a time such abuses were rare. Unfortunately, these trends are far more common and…
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The Alachua County Commission at its September 26 meeting approved an ordinance allowing the use of the county website to post legal notices. The assistant county manager presented the proposal and was clearly on board with it. His slides claimed the county website had a large social media presence, paper’s annual subscription fee, pointed out its…
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Q. Our weekly free publication recently successfully completed an AAM/BPA audit that validates the minimum qualifications for carrying paid public notices. What validating documentation/confirmation is necessary on your end to show we meet the audit threshold requirement in the statute? A. We don’t have such documentation. Each paper works with their own auditor and gov.…
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Q. I was able to get my periodical permit finalized. It was no easy feat. So, we’ll be doing legal advertising again. I read your Q&A on the PN resource page about what is necessary after Jan. 1 and I’m not clear on one thing. Prior to Jan. 1, 2023, it was an audit proving…
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