WILDWOOD CREST – Board of Commissioners introduced an ordinance to prohibit individuals not employed by the borough from entering employee workspaces March 8.
Ordinance 1399, introduced on first reading, is intended to “designate restricted areas on borough property … (as) limited to authorized employees only to protect and safeguard public records containing personally identifiable information and to provide a safe and secure workspace free from intrusion and disruption for borough officials and employees.”
The ordinance, when effective, will require visitors to only have access to open areas and not go past any sign indicating an area is closed to the public.
The ordinance says the borough maintains information that is available per the Open Public Records Act (OPRA), but it also maintains information that is not subject to OPRA, which can appear in various forms.
The ordinance states, “All persons entering into or onto borough property … shall comply with the directions of any borough employee … to immediately leave any area that has been designated as a restricted area, and to immediately relocate to the nearest public area.”
When asked about the reason for the ordinance, Commissioner Joseph Schiff, the borough’s director of public safety, referred to a “situation” in Lower Township.
A search of YouTube quickly identified the situation captured in the video of a so-called “First Amendment auditor.”
An individual who identified himself only as Sean from Long Island Audit (longislandaudit.com) showed up at Lower Township Hall Dec. 22, 2022, and started recording in the public meeting room.
Shortly after he begins, Township Manager Mike Laffey comes on the scene and asks the individual what he is doing and tells him the meeting room is not open at that time. The individual would not give his name, or provide identification, and said he was working as an independent journalist.
“I’m working on a story,” he said, adding, “I’m not going to give you my ID.”
Laffey leaves and returns with Cpl. Mike Szemcsak, of the Lower Township Police Department (LTPD), who later said he happened to be in the building. The individual gives Szemcsak his first name, Sean, and again identifies himself as an independent journalist.
“I work for myself,” he said.
The Long Island Audit website identifies the person as Sean Paul Reyes and says he is a “Constitutional activist who conducts 1st Amendment Audits and public employee accountability checks on Long Island, the East Coast and in YOUR neighborhood.”
A First Amendment audit, as depicted on social media, generally consists of a person or persons with a video camera who appears on public property and records a governmental building, such as police stations, post offices, or town halls.
Typically, the person recording the video captures the attention of law enforcement or a building manager, who will ask what he is doing and his name. Normally, the person claims to be an independent journalist recording video for a story he is working on.
As Reyes did, the person tends to refuse to show identification, saying he is not required to do so since he's not being charged with a crime. He cannot be charged with trespassing, the person will say, because he is on public property.
The interaction will go on for some time, with the videographer usually refusing to leave on the basis that he is on public property and has committed no crime, all while refusing to show identification.
The apparent story individuals, such as Reyes, are working on is the one being recorded; in effect, he went in front of or into a governmental building and began to create video for a story.
The video captured at Lower Township Hall, which runs for 15 minutes and 19 seconds, begins with a statement saying the purpose of the video is to “promote the right to exercise his (Reyes’) 1st Amendment rights in a public area.”
At the 9:30-minute mark in the video, Sgt. Jason Felsing, of the LTPD, who is Szemscak’s supervisor, appears and begins a dialogue with Reyes.
Felsing tells him the public meeting room is not open at the time, adding that there is no reason to continuously record one area, and once he completed his recording, he should leave.
Reyes objects to being told what to do and for how long he could do it. Reyes walks through the main hallway, commenting on all the “Authorized Personnel Only” signs posted on doors, and concludes by filing an OPRA request, asking the township clerk to provide the names, salaries, and email addresses of every township employee.
Capt. Richard D’Amico, of the Wildwood Crest Police Department, said the Crest commissioners introduced the ordinance because, if there were no regulations in place, people might be able to wander throughout Borough Hall.
When contacted regarding the Dec. 22 incident, Laffey said he could not have cared less that Reyes was in Lower Township Hall with a camera, but he was unknown to anyone and was wearing a fanny pack, which could have contained a weapon.
“He just said he was doing nothing wrong, but how do we know?” Laffey said. “With things going on in this world today, it’s upsetting, people being shot at schools, malls, etc.”
As a result of the video, Laffey said he received “hate email” from all over the country.
“Someone said I should've 'ben fried' or fired. Which one do you mean?” he said.
Laffey said he is not sure that Lower Township will create a similar ordinance to what Wildwood Crest introduced.
He said at the last League of Municipalities meeting, held in Avalon, Keith Hummel, from the Joint Insurance Fund (JIF), spoke on the topic. Laffey said he planned to invite Hummel to give his one-hour PowerPoint presentation to the frontline staff.
Contact the author, Christopher South, at csouth@cmcherald.com or 609-886-8600, ext. 128.
