The Key Biscayne Village Council is set to formally end the administration’s media gag policy on Tuesday, an edict that had threatened discipline for any staffer who spoke to a news reporter without prior approval.
However, the wording of the proposed resolution set for the council meeting appears to give Manager Steve Williamson wiggle room to re-impose communications rules that could again undermine governmental transparency.
The draft resolution was made public on Friday. The policy prompted a federal civil rights lawsuit — still pending — by the Independent challenging it on First Amendment grounds.
While it confirms the policy is withdrawn, the text of the resolution expresses unqualified support for Williamson’s goals in initially promulgating it.
Significantly, the resolution also states, “After careful review and consideration, the Village Council desires to authorize the Village Manager to adopt voluntary communication guidelines.” The term “voluntary” appears to simply mean that employees won’t be explicitly threatened with discipline for speaking to reporters — but still would be encouraged to refrain from doing so.
The only time the Council is known to have discussed the gag policy was in a closed-door session with its lawyers on Sept. 11. Neither the Village nor its attorneys have provided the text of any “guidelines.”
Williamson suspended his media policy in mid-August, but since then, the Independent has repeatedly encountered problems speaking directly to some officials. It has experienced other transparency obstacles, such as a reporter being kicked out of a public “sunshine” meeting and reporters twice being refused access to public office space where Council members were conferring before a meeting.
Some of the Independent’s public records requests have been ignored or not fulfilled in the timely manner required by Florida’s records law – a growing pattern since the suspension of the media policy.
Key BIscayne VIllage Council on Jan. 28, 2025. (KBI Photo/John Pacenti)
The Independent’s editor in chief, Tony Winton, called the draft resolution a “disappointing whitewash of an unconstitutional act undertaken by Manager Steve Williamson that limited the public’s right to know.“
“There is neither a promise of better behavior nor a clear affirmation of transparency,” Winton said. “Instead, this resolution would actually embrace the manager’s power to issue vague media guidelines that could easily be used to once again suppress speech by Village employees, under a fig leaf that they would be ‘voluntary.’”
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Williamson ordered the media policy after an Independent article that reported that the Village was investigating whether GOP Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, moved belongings into her new Key Biscayne condominium before a certificate of occupancy had been issued by the Building, Zoning & Planning Department.
Williamson and Salazar’s office tried to get the Independent to remove the article from its website, even though accurate information was given to the publication by Building, Zoning and Planning Director Jeremy Gauger for the story. Gauger has never again spoken to the Independent.
Williamson is trying to get government dollars for his signature stormwater project – the Big Dig. It has more than doubled in price for just the first zone.
Vice Mayor Oscar Sardinas and Council Member Michael Bracken confer at the Jan. 28, 2025, Council meeting. (KBI Photo/John Pacenti)
The media policy stated that all staffers must be approved to speak to the media and that all media inquiries must go through Williamson or Public Information Officer Jessica Drouet.
Council Member Ed London called the media policy “nonsense.”
“I am completely against the policy they have. In my opinion, we have nothing to hide,” London said. “I mean, this is a small community. It is absolutely absurd to have this.”
The Society of Professional Journalists has called media policies limiting employees from speaking freely to reporters as “Censorship by PIO.” The organization is keeping track of municipalities that instill such policies through its project, Gagged America.
David Cuillier, director of the Freedom of Information Project at the Brechner Center, said Village officials are wise to stop playing games with public information
“In the cases where we see where these policies are challenged, they always lose, right?” he said. “They need to send a newsletter out to all government officials. ‘Don’t do this, or you’ll be embarrassed and waste time and money – and tax dollars.”
Winton said adoption of the proposal would amount to an abdication of the Council’s duty, delegating a core government function to a bureaucrat. It must write any guidelines itself, with due public process, he said.
“Let’s be clear: the Council sets policy, not the manager,” Winton said. “It should direct this administration, and all future ones, to be open, prompt, and transparent with all media and public inquiries.”
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JOHN PACENTI is a correspondent of the Key Biscayne Independent. John has worked for The Associated Press, the Palm Beach Post, Daily Business Review, and WPTV-TV.