From:
To: City Council
Subject: Concerns about new press protocols
Date: Friday, February 28, 2025 4:56:35 PM
I’m writing to you to express my deep concern about the press protocols that Mayor Zollman has put in place.
Placing restrictions on who the press can talk to, how they can ask questions, how long it takes to respond and what topics can be discussed is blatently opposite to his statement that he was trying to make things more “transparent” The First Amendment Coalition (FAC) identified two areas that are likely violations of the first amendment. - the requirement that government employees get permission before they speak to the press (“A clear case of prior restraint,”);
- the requirement that council members contact city hall before they talk to the press (“Prior restraint or close to it,”) The FAC also said there were other issues with the policy as well—issues that didn’t rise to constitutional violations, but were more like questions of best practice.
As a citizen of the city of Sebastopol I request that the Mayor and the City Council officially roll these changes back to how things were and focus on your priority now which is to ensure the financial stability of our city.
Trying to hinder the press from doing their job of reporting on the goings on in town and in our (the people’s) government is the last thing you should be doing. You should welcome the inquiries of the press and allow anyone working for the city to speak their mind. That is transparency.
Thank you councilmember Maurer for voting against this. I hope the mayor and our other council members will come to their senses and revert things back to how they were.
I’ve contacted the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (Fire.org) about this. Hopefully, you’ll reverse this change, if not, the city may have another lawsuit on it’s hands.