By Keily Alfonzo, Interning Correspondent for The Apopka Voice
For decades, the doors of Apopka City Hall have always been open to the public. But now, the City Council has voted to post signs designating what is accessible to outsiders and what is not. Due to safety concerns, the Council implemented a policy that prevents the public from accessing City buildings without proper authorization.
During a previous Council meeting, Cliff Shepard, the Apopka City Attorney, discussed an ordinance restricting public access to city buildings, what possible benefits it could bring to the city, and what would happen if the security measures were broken.
The Council voted in favor of the ordinance, which is now in effect at City Hall.
"It was made necessary so that all staff would know how to react in the situation of someone coming in and wanting access and knowing what was appropriate under that policy," Shepard said.
At the beginning of the discussion, Susan Bone, the Apopka City Clerk, explained that the ordinance provides for recognition that certain areas of City buildings require regulation of public access to provide for the security and privacy of public visitors, City employees, and City officials, and minimize potential disruptions of the work of the City government. She also said that it provides for unauthorized access or disruptive behavior violations within the non-public and limited public forums and allows the authorities to issue trespass warnings.
However, Shepard said that while the City Administrator or designees can ask for trespass warnings, once they are issued, they become a police matter.
"If there's a repeat violation, that could lead to an arrest, but usually, the attempt is to de-escalate and just get the person to stop doing whatever it is that they're doing again," Shepard said.
Nonetheless, this policy isn't sitting well with some.
Leroy Bell, an Apopka resident, said that when he was around 16 years old, he could walk freely to City Hall and straight to the mayor's office, but now, they have a different perspective.
"Every time something happened, they ran and said it was for the safety of the employees and the safety of the city hall," Bell said. "Half of the people in Apopka have served in the military, and foreign services, and they want to have access to City Hall."
Sylvester Hall, also an Apopka resident, said that City employees should be trained to handle altercations with the public when referring to a recent accident where a city council employee resigned due to the backlash she received from an incident outside of City Hall.
"The whole situation should have been de-escalated by a simple phone call," Hall said.
He also said that everything that has been happening in the city recently says a lot about how Apopka works.
"When anybody from this city wants to walk in the city hall, it's a direct reflection on us, how we do business, and the atmosphere and the culture of our city, and when it doesn't reflect that, it tells a lot about the city," he said.
