Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 04-05-05 — reading text

aTY OF FORT WALTON BEACH City Council Workshop Agenda - April 5, 2005 - 7:00 P.M. City Council Chambers 107 Miracle Strip Parkway, SE Fort Walton Beach, FL 32548 CALL TO ORDER I WORKSHOP AGENDA 1. General Public ( on items of City business). 2. Discussion on City Council Member assignments to various boards and agencies ( Mayor Anderson) ( See Backup). 3. Discussion of Resolution in opposition to government mandated internet filtering at public libraries Council Member Pullen) ( See Backup). 4. Discussion on tactical objectives for the 2005 Strategic Plan. ( Council Member Tucker) ( No Backup). 5. Other matters as determined by Council ( No Backup). ADJOURN Any person who decides to appeal any decision made with respect to any matter at this meeting will need a record of the proceedings, and for such purpose may need to ensure that a verbatim record of the proceedings is made, which record includes the testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is to be based. FS286. 0105). The City of Fort Walton Beach adheres to the American with Disabilities Act and will make reasonable modifications for access to this meeting upon request. Please call City Clerk Helen Spencer at 850-833- 9509 to make a request. For Hearing Impaired dial the City Hall TOO 8#50- 833- 9925 or 1- 800- 955-8771 ( TOO) or 1-800- 955-8770 Voi ( ce). Requests must be received at least 48 hours in advance of the meeting in order to allow the City time to provide requested service. Message Page 1 of 1 Helen Spencer From: Wayne Pullen [ aapullen@cox. net] Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2005 10:45 AM To: Undisclosed- Recipient:; Subject: Resolution for filtering bill 2005. doc As a result of the library meeting yesterday all the cities were asked if they could send a resolution on this matter. Could you have a copy for our discussion at the next workshop. Thanks, Dr. Pullen 3- 29- 05 Dr. Pullen requested a proposed resolution be discussed at the next workshop. Attached IS a sample from the Library meeting. Attached is the City' s resolution 04- 13 passed on March 9, 2004. SB 722 and HB 0611 are correct. Helen Spencer - City Clerk Staff time to complete: 30 Minutes 3/ 24/ 2005  b ra ~ t-0 Y1'\ L' ( 111 ~ . f I ' p=- hLj / City of Fort Walton Beach RESOLUTION IN OPPOSITION TO GOVERNMENT MANDATED INTERNET FILTERING WHEREAS, the City of Fort Walton Beach City Council believes that the protection of our children while visiting and using our libraries is of the highest priority; and WHEREAS, public librarians of the City of Fort Walton Beach work diligently with and within the community to provide a safe, inviting and educational place for area children; and WHEREAS, the City of Fort Walton Beach strongly believes in the First Amendment allowing for the free and open access to information that people of all ages need and want regardless of the format of that information; and WHEREAS, many of our City residents rely solely on library- provided public access computers to meet their information needs, including Internet access, because they cannot afford computers or the training necessary to operate them successfully; and WHEREAS, the Fort Walton Beach Library depends on State Aid to Libraries funding through the Okaloosa County Public Library Cooperative; and WHEREAS, public libraries consistently partner with parents and work unceasingly toward helping adults and children in their communities become information literate by teaching them how to access, evaluate, and use information; and WHEREAS, the City of Fort Walton Beach is dedicated to educating children to use the Internet wisely and responsibly in the belief that knowledge provides the best protection now and in the future; and WHEREAS, public libraries implement specific Internet use policies based on the needs of their communities; and WHEREAS, the City of Fort Walton Beach through experience knows there is currently no proven technology that can successfully block out all illegal content while allowing access to all constitutionally protected material; and WHEREAS, HB0611 and SB722 are unfunded mandates and would do significant harm to Public libraries if implemented by further eroding already fiscally impacted budgets and curtailing valuable programs, services and purchase of educational materials; and WHEREAS, the penalties proscribed in aforementioned legislation are harsh and overly severe in nature and not assigned to any other educational agency; and WHEREAS, Internet use policies in the Fort Walton Beach Library have heretofore been created and decided upon at the local level. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Fort Walton Beach, Florida, that the Fort Walton Beach Library will continue to work with local communities and governing agencies to ensure that all area children are protected in the library. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City of Fort Walton Beach will diligently work to overturn any law that usurps or undermines local control of library policy and procedure. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City of New Port Richey will submit this resolution to Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Members of the Florida Legislature. PASSED AND ADOPTED this _ day of 2005. April 15, 2005 Dear The Florida Legislature is currently addressing bills advocating the filtering of Internet access computers in the public library setting. The Fort Walton Beach Library and the Okaloosa County Public Library Cooperative oppose both HB0611 and SB722. The key elements of both bills reflect legislator' s concerns regarding Internet screening in public libraries. Since the advent of the Internet and its wide open availability to information of all varieties and sensibilities, libraries have endeavored to protect children and adults from viewing material deemed socially inappropriate. Traditionally, each library and its governing body have addressed this issue on a local level without state or federal government involvement whenever possible. With this new, unfunded legislation, all public libraries would be required to filter depictions that are obscene, child pornography or harmful to minors. An adult may request that the filter be disabled by an employee of the public library for " bona fide" research or other lawful purposes. This measure puts the library in the position of passing judgement upon a citizen' s request for access. If a public library fails to comply with the request, it will be subject to $ 100 per day fine, attorney' s fees and costs to the individual who filed the non- compliance complaint. The Fort Walton Beach Library currently has a policy that prohibits the display of obscene content and provides protection for all patrons via staff monitoring. The cost of filtering all the computers in our library will negatively impact both the quality of service and the number of services currently provided. Finally, there currently is not and allow any filtering software that can adequately keep out all inappropriate images full access to appropriate sites. Our library has faithfully and consistently provided a safe environment for all area children and is firmly committed to continuing that practice. Our goal is to offer a wide variety of resources and materials that foster and contribute to the individual growth and lifelong learning potential of all citizens of Fort Walton Beach and Okaloosa County. Please support our library by voting against this bill. Thank you for all that you do for our community and for libraries. Sincerely,