No Texting While on the Dais, Council Says

The Encinitas City Council dais will soon be a no texting zone. 

In a 4-1 vote with Encinitas Mayor Jerome Stocks opposed, Wednesday night Coucil adopted a policy that bans councilmembers from messaging via their cell phones or wireless devices, like tablets, while they are on the dais.

The policy is based on a recommendation from a subcommittee including Councilman James Bond and Councilwoman Teresa Barth. They were appointed last year to review Encinitas’ policies for releasing drafts of city documents and electronic communications. 

“We’re trying to help assure the public that when we are in fact deliberating here, we’re paying attention to what the speakers have to say, to what staff has to say and what our colleagues have to say — and that we’re not more interested in our electronic devices than we are in what’s being discussed,” Barth said.

Bond also said that cell phones provide councilmembers with a private line, which could potentially be abused — namely between a councilmember and his or her campaign manager, who could watch meeting live online or on TV.

“They can sit at home and text their favorite candidate as to how they think they should vote and what they think they should say,” he said. “We don’t do that and I don’t suspect that we ever will, but just to make sure that it never starts, I don’t think this is an over-the-top restriction.”

Encinitas Councilman Mark Muir made the motion to adopt the policy, stating that he felt it came down to “common courtesy and texting and email doesn’t need to take place.” 

As a mother to three small children, Encinitas Deputy Mayor Kristin Gaspar said she relies on her cellphone to alert her of any family emergencies.  After discussion, Council agreed a fair solution would be to use an existing landline on the dais for emergencies. 

Stocks said though he supported the policy in theory, he did not approve of the way it was written. He said he felt the wording suggested that if a councilmember ever happens to receive a text message that is not emergency-related, he or she will automatically be deemed as violating the policy. Because Council agreed to use the landline for emergencies, Barth suggested that the line of text he took issue with be removed — but Stocks said even then, he still could not support it.

The subcommittee including Bond and Barth also reviewed the city’s policy for releasing drafts of city documents. Council decided to launch that review in the wake of a lawsuit that ultimately forced the city to release a draft of a road condition report in 2010. After reviewing the policy and comparing them to other cities, the subcommittee decided no change was required at this time and that requests should be taken on a case-by-case basis — though Barth did add that she hopes the city learned from the lawsuit. 

“We need to be able to clearly justify holding [a draft document],” she said. “The assumption is that it should be released unless we can justify otherwise — not we should hold it unless we can justify releasing it. That should be the norm.”