Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
By null, Times Staff WriterThe Tarpon Springs City Commission will revisit its plan to restrict the use of a meeting room at the facility.
TARPON SPRINGS - City officials plan to revisit the future of Tarpon Springs' library community room tonight.
City Commissioner Peter Nehr asked for the topic to be put on tonight's City Commission agenda and says he wants the city to reconsider its plan to restrict the use of the community room.
"This is a free speech issue," Nehr said Monday. "I think the city would be making a terribly big mistake to close the library to people who want to meet there."
Last fall, the city's library board closed the room to the local chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, saying the group lacked the "political neutrality" required to use the room. Following that decision, the city adopted the restrictions on the community room's use, saying the room will be used primarily for library programs starting this fall.
Members of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State are allowed to use the Tarpon Springs library community room until the new rules take effect Sept. 30. But some members are still critical of the policy, calling it "short-sighted."
Gerald Eckstein, president of the group's North Pinellas-based Suncoast chapter, said he and several others plan to attend the commission meeting at 6:30 tonight at City Hall, 324 E Pine St. He said city officials suggested that the group use an alternate meeting space at the city's recreation center. But he was told the city requires any group meeting at the recreation center to buy a liability insurance policy before meeting there.
Eckstein's wife, Terry, is also a member of the group and said she was astonished by the city's decision to restrict the community room's use based on the group's perceived political stance.
"There are people in Tarpon Springs who consider us to be antireligion and radicals," she said. "We've never been antireligion. But some people don't know we're just antireligion in government and antigovernment in religion."
But some library staff and supporters say the room serves the public best when it is used exclusively for library programs such as children's reading events or computer literacy training. Limiting the room's use could also cut down on the amount of time it takes to manage the room's schedule and clean up, they say.
About 25 community groups schedule meetings in the room and about half of those hold regular monthly or bi-weekly meetings there.
That makes for a lot of jostling and juggling for library staffers who maintain the room and schedule meetings there. The extra hours of library staff time are costly for the city, proponents of the restrictions say.
There are no plans for a vote on the issue at Tuesday's meeting. But Nehr, the city's newest commissioner, says he will suggest changes to a city policy.
A telephone call to City Attorney John Hubbard was not returned Monday afternoon. But Hubbard has said repeatedly that the move to restrict the room's use for library events and programs will head off costly lawsuits over First Amendment issues.
In Dunedin, city officials were forced to grapple with such a lawsuit when a Central Florida religious group sued the city over its policy prohibiting the use of public meeting rooms for programs of a religious or political nature. Last month, Dunedin reached a settlement with the Liberty Counsel of Orlando, agreeing to pay about $3,600 in legal fees.
Dunedin officials also agreed to change their policy prohibiting the use of public meeting rooms for programs of a political or religious nature.
- Candace Rondeaux can be reached at (727) 445-4182 or rondeaux@sptimes.com