Guidelines

I am one member of a five person board. The opinions I express on this forum are mine only, and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Escambia County Staff, Administrators, Employees, or anyone else associated with Escambia County Florida. I am interested in establishing this blog as a means of additional transparency to the public, outreach to the community, and information dissemination to all who choose to look. Feedback is welcome, but because public participation is equally encouraged, appropriate language and decorum is mandatory. Although this is not my campaign site for re-election--sometimes campaign related information will be discussed, therefore in an abundance of caution I add the following : Political Advertisement Paid for and Approved by Jeff Bergosh, Republican, for Escambia County Commissioner District 1








Sunday, March 17, 2024

I'll be on Real News with Rick Outzen Tomorrow Morning at 7:00 AM

I'll be on at 7:00 AM tomorrow on the area's best, most listened to, most trusted,  and most highly rated morning drive news program, "Real News with Rick Outzen" on the area's station with the best talk lineup--1370 WCOA

 

I've been invited to appear tomorrow morning on the area's best, most trusted, knowledgable and engaging morning drive news program--"Real News with Rick Outzen" on 1370 WCOA.

I'll be in studio with Rick at 7:00--prepared to discuss any topics of interest he wants to discuss.

-OLF-8

-The 2024 Election

-Jonathan Owen's Ethics Investigation

-New SCOTUS rulings on Elected Officials' Social Media

-This Week's Coffee with the Commissioner at 6:30 Wednesday--Featuring Bert Thornton

Or whatever Rick wants to talk about.

Catch the show live at 7:00 AM--or catch the podcast here once Rick Posts it

91st Coffee with the Commissioner this Wednesday: Bert Thornton on Success and the Value of Mentoring

 



Join us at our virtual 91st Coffee with the Commissioner event this Wednesday, March 20. The live stream will take place from 6:30-7:30 a.m. To join the meeting, visit our Facebook site here: www.facebook.com/CommissionerBergosh/

Attendees include County Administrator Wes Moreno, Public Safety Director Eric Gilmore, and author, public speaker, entrepreneur and District 1 resident Bert Thornton, retired President and Chief Operating Officer of Waffle House Restaurants. Moreno will provide an update on county business, Gilmore will discuss public safety matters, and Mr. Thornton will discuss his thoughts on success and leadership in life and the workplace and the importance of mentoring.

Residents are encouraged to send virtual questions and comments they would like to discuss with us during the event through Facebook.

For more information, contact District 1 at 850-595-4910 or district1@myescambia.com

Does Recent Supreme Court Ruling Inform Local Board Members' Decisions on Blocking Posters and Deleting Comments?

Do Elected Official Have to Continue to Absorb Online Ad-Hominem Attacks with no Recourse Given the Recent Rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court?  It Doesn't look like legislative Officials do......


The U.S. Supreme Court  has recently ruled on a couple of interesting cases on public officials' social media uses.

Being a public official that uses social media--I am paying close attention to this.

It appears as if the decision turns on whether the elected official has power to act on behalf of the government.  In reading the decisions, It appears as if an elected executive branch official has a greater duty to maintain open dialogue on social media than does an individual member of an elected legislative body (like a school board member or a county commissioner)

This is very interesting because a common phonomemon I have witnessed is one or two posters, or one or two posters with multiple fake facebook accounts, can "hound" elected officials with whom they have personal beefs or animus---with a barrage of attacks and ad hominem's on the elected offical's social media account.

It really discourages dialoge--as most elected officials-------particularly at the legislative level locally----do not establish Facebook accounts tied to their roles because of this hostile, unfair environment.  Because they can't stop a few loud and obnoxious voices from dominating the conversations and initiating unfair, biased, and ugly ad-hominem attacks.

But----according to these new rulings----it appears as if individual members of legislative bodies are not compelled to allow ALL posters on their sites.  Yes, unruly posters can be blocked, and their disgusting attack-posts can be deleted.  Wow.

This is an interesting turn.

Read these rulings, here and here.

Escambia School Board Attorney Ellen Odom analyzed the rulings and provided the below guidance to the Escambia County School Board Members--which appears to be applicable to Escambia Commissioners as well--because we are both legislative branch constitutional offices:

"The Court ruled “When a government official posts about job-related topics on social media, it can be difficult to tell whether the speech is official or private. We hold that such speech is attributable to the State only if the official (1) possessed actual authority to speak on the State’s behalf, and (2) purported to exercise that authority when he spoke on social media.”  In sum, if you place personal political opinions on your personal pages and you have disclaimers stating these are personal political opinions which do not reflect the views of the School Board as a whole, I believe you will be able to disallow comments at all on your personal pages or to block commenters, especially those who engage in abusive language. 

 

Regarding whether a state official “possessed actual authority to speak on the State’s behalf,” the Court ruled “A defendant like [the city manager] must have actual authority rooted in written law or longstanding custom to speak for the State. That authority must extend to speech of the sort that caused the alleged rights deprivation. If the plaintiff cannot make this threshold showing of authority, he cannot establish state action.”

 

There is no written law or rule which requires individual school board members to speak on behalf of the Board on  social media accounts.  In fact, the School Board has long operated under the premise that the individual views of Board Members do not constitute the views of the Board as a whole, and that no individual Board member has the authority to speak on behalf of the Board as a whole unless the statement is adopted as an official statement of the Board based upon a vote taken by a majority of the Board. You have already approved NEOLA bylaws which will clearly state this principle, once adopted.   

 

 As you know, the District has its own social media accounts in which it posts information.  Based upon the tests established today and our long-standing practice (to be adopted as policy), I do not believe that a Court would find that a School Board Member possessed actual authority to speak on behalf of the School Board on social media.  If the School Board Member does not possess actual authority to speak on behalf of the Board on Social Media, then the School Board Member does not violate the law by blocking a commenter.

 

As for the second prong, whether a government official purported to exercise State authority when he or she spoke on Social Media, the Court gave examples of when a government official was exercising State authority or personal authority:

 

“Consider a hypothetical from the offline world. A school board president announces at a school board meeting that the board has lifted pandemic-era restrictions on public schools. The next evening, at a backyard barbecue with friends whose children attend public schools, he shares that the board has lifted the pandemic-era restrictions. The former is state action taken in his official capacity as school board president; the latter is private action taken in his personal capacity as a friend and neighbor. While the substance of the announcement is the same, the context—an official meeting versus a private event—differs. He invoked his official authority only when he acted as school board president.”

 

The court then further refined the examples of state versus private action:

 

“The context of Freed’s speech is hazier than that of the hypothetical school board president. Had Freed’s account carried a label (e.g., ‘this is the personal page of James R. Freed’) or a disclaimer (e.g., ‘the views expressed are strictly my own’), he would be entitled to a heavy (though not irrebuttable) presumption that all of the posts on his page were personal. Markers like these give speech the benefit of clear context: Just as we can safely presume that speech at a backyard barbeque is personal, we can safely presume that speech on a ‘personal’ page is personal (absent significant evidence indicating that a post is official). Conversely, context can make clear that a social-media account purports to speak for the government—for instance, when an account belongs to a political subdivision (e.g., a ‘City of Port Huron’ Facebook page) or is passed down to whomever occupies a particular office (e.g., an ‘@PHuronCityMgr’ Instagram account). 

 

Based upon this, for those of you who maintain social media accounts and occasionally post content related to School Board business, I would recommend you place on your social media pages that it is your personal page or account with the disclaimer “The views reflected on the personal social media page are my views alone and those views do not reflect the views of the School Board as a whole, or any employee of Escambia County Public Schools.”  As long as you are not announcing official action in the first instance on social media on behalf of the Board (which none of you individually have the authority to do under State law), then you will not be found to have engaged in State action.  Remember, the First Amendment only applies to State action, not private action.

 

Please let me know if you have any questions or wish to discuss further.

 

Ellen Odom"


Great Day at the Ballpark!


I was invited to participate in the Opening Day festivities at the Southwest Sports Complex in District 1 Saturday morning.  We were celebrating the 2024 season of youth baseball, t-ball, and wee-ball at the park.

We were also cutting the ribbon on a newly-constructed all-weather, covered batting cage that the county built for the park.

It was a great day.  Lots of happy families, excited players, and extended families celebrating the season's start.

There are more than 300 players signed up, and the park was packed for opening day.  It was great.

Thanks to PBYSA, the volunteers, and the FAMILIES----- for the invite and for all they all do to provide a place for these youth to hone their skills in baseball.  And fellowship.  And leadership.  And socialization.  And the leadership building they are fostering.




(I was also asked to throw out the first pitch which I did.  I didn't bounce it, but my pitch was high and outside, LOL.)

An interesting side conversation I had was enlightening:  "These parks are getting CRUSHED by the utility bills to keep the lights on" said an official familiar with the operations at the SW Sports Complex and PBYSA.  

"3 years ago, our yearly light bill was about $22,000 a year.  Now, it has tripled.  It is $66,000 a year.  and it is killing us." Said this individual.   "Thankfully, we have the travel baseball teams and the tournament promoters who bring tournaments and collect fees which they pay us---otherwise we couldn't afford to keep this afloat"  said this source.  "We couldn't do it without them!"

It is sad for me to hear that the utilities costs are killing some of these programs for kids.  As I walked through the park, it brought back memories of my sons playing baseball at NEP at John R. Jones Park.

But we didn't have the pressure back then that  these families have now.  

I hope they are able to hang in there and sustain these programs for these families and players---but things are changing.  We need to keep these programs in place for the players and the families!


Friday, March 15, 2024

Improved Beach Access #2 in Perdido Key Opens This Morning at 10:00--Provides 6 more Parking Spots than Before!






The crews from Parks and Recreation, Natural Resources, and Public Works  have completed the renovation and modernization and upgrades to Perdido Key's public Beach Access point #2, a full two weeks ahead of schedule.

The effort results in a level, ashpahlt parking surface with striped spots and curb stops.  Because we were able to remove the dilapidated and damaged structure on the property --we have realized 6 additional parking spots, over and above what the previous configuration accomodated.

The dilapidated, vandalism riddled bathrooms were a source of consternation to staff for years.  "Without a staffed presence at all times, parks around the country experience this phenomenon--not just Pensacola" said a staff member with intimate, historical knowledge of the repeated incidences of vandalism at the unmonitored restorrms at Access 2 ane Access 3 in Perdido Key.  He continued "We often found condoms and drug paraphenalia inside the structures along with repeated damage to the sinks, toilets, and fixtures--so there was illegal conduct happening--and the vandalism and repairs cost taxpayers thousands of dollars.  This is the right solution."

So now we have outdoor showers, a paved, level parking surface, Handicapped accessible, portable restrooms that will be encased in wooden lattice frames, and SIX MORE parking spots just in time for the peak of Spring Break.

The portable restoom company will service the portable restrooms on a frequent basis and deal with any vandalism/damage to these portable units, and trash will be picked up 6 days a week during the season.

Next winter, similar work will be completed at Access #3.

Kudos to the staff at Parks and Rec, Public Works, and Natural Resources for getting this done and making this amenity better for all the citizens and for adding 6 more parking spots for the citizens' use!





Thursday, March 14, 2024

ALL STOP: We are NOT Cutting ANY Trees Down at Galvez


We had requests from multiple folks about cleaning up a county-owned parcel of land adjacent to our Innerarity Boat launch in D1 in Escambia County.

We had a number of trees that were identified to be in need of removal by our County Arborist.

Folks park in this area, folks walk in this area and the thought was that some of these trees were dying and could fall on cars or people.  Initially, about a dozen were identified for removal.

Then, the arborist identified 5.

For any tree we were going to remove, the county was going to plant 2 6-7 foot replacement trees in the area, on the parcel.

But upon seeing the visceral reaction online to any trees being taken down--we will continue our efforts to clean the scrub brush from this county-owned parcel and to expand and dig-deeper the county-owned stormwater retention pond on this property and level the property with fill material.

But as for cutting ANY trees down----we are at an ALL STOP.  

We will NOT be cutting any down in the immediate term until a full assessment can be done that includes myself, county staff, citizens, and stakeholders.

We will only cut trees that need to come down if they pose an iminent safety hazard, are diseased, or otherwise need to be removed in the opinion of ouar professional arborist.

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

County is Funding and Supports Real Change Project Re-Connect. What is It?

Project reconnect is a funded county program to help people who are here in the county and homeless.  This program will help such individuals reconnect with family and support services in their home town or home of origin, by providing one way tickets back home.  

There are requirments that must be met, but once support services or family at the destination are contacted and such loved-ones confirm they will assist their family member--we furnish one way tickets back!

Between this new program, our enhanced intersections/distractions ordinance, and the state's new tough law on homeless camps on county property---we are tackling the homelessness issue in the county head-on.  And it is past time for us to do it.

Read more about Project Re-Connect below:



Political Advertisement Paid For and Approved by Jeff Bergosh, Republican for Escambia Commission D1