A number of Kane County Board members spoke against the creation of free speech zones at a committee meeting on Wednesday following public concern about the issue recently.
A “First Amendment area” was established on Aug. 27 at the county’s government campus in Geneva. The sign establishing the area said it was “set aside for individuals or groups exercising their constitutional First Amendment rights” and that the county “neither encourages nor discourages, or otherwise endorses, these activities and receives no funds in relation to these activities.”
County staff said the area was designed to stop people who were passing out political flyers from blocking entrances to buildings, standing in the road or getting too close to people while they were depositing property tax payments into a dropbox. Those against the area have said it restricted freedom of speech to a distant portion of the government campus.
The sign designating the First Amendment area has since been taken down and was only up for a single day, according to county staff.
At the Kane County Board Executive Committee meeting on Wednesday, County Board members largely agreed that the creation of a free speech zone was not the way to fix people blocking entrances or getting too close to property tax payment drop boxes to pass out political flyers. No formal vote was taken on the issue.
“I think they should be able to stand wherever they want as long as they don’t stand on the sidewalk and don’t impede the process of someone going in and out of the building,” said County Board member Dale Berman. “And as far as speaking, they can say whatever they want.”
Instead, County Board member Jarett Sanchez said the best option might be to simply put up signs asking people to not block entryways or sidewalks, since the issue was less about freedom of speech and more about building access.
County Board member Michelle Gumz said she would call a meeting of the Security Advisory Committee, which she chairs, to discuss the issue further, but that she was against restricting freedom of speech and against free speech zones.
In a statement on Aug. 28 and again at Wednesday’s meeting, Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser said she was also personally not in favor of free speech zones or of restricting freedom of speech in any way.
When Mosser learned about the First Amendment area from a concerned citizen, she requested the sign be taken down until the issue could be discussed by the Kane County Board as a whole, she said at Wednesday’s meeting.
While it is legal to set up a free speech zone, as long as the zone only restricts how people use their freedom of speech on government property and does not restrict what people are allowed to say, the First Amendment area set up recently should have only been created through a resolution approved by the full Kane County Board, according to Mosser.
“It is the purview of this County Board, and not one person’s decision, to create a free speech zone,” she said.
Mosser’s office was asked by Kane County Board Chair Corinne Pierog to look at the legality of free speech zones in May, but after her office reported its findings, they were not included in further discussions, and neither was Kane County Sheriff Ron Hain, she said.
More than 10 people spoke against the First Amendment area during the public comment period of the Kane County Board Executive Committee meeting on Wednesday. Some speakers said they were the ones passing out flyers and that they were not blocking anyone from entering any buildings or from driving through the area.
In a statement sent on Aug. 28, Kane County Republican Central Committee Chair Andro Lerario said the creation of the First Amendment area was “relegating free speech activities to a distant area, far from the building’s entrance” and was a “blatant restriction of First Amendment rights.”
The area was established the day after people handing out flyers criticizing Kane County Board Chair Corinne Pierog were asked to stop, the statement said.
Information Technologies and Buildings Management Executive Director Roger Fahnestock said at Wednesday’s Executive Committee meeting that the area was not intended to restrict free speech but was instead designed to protect free speech within the area.
The area was established because people handing out political flyers were standing close to the accessible main entrance to one of the county’s buildings on the Geneva campus and to a dropbox that residents use to pay property taxes, he said.
These people were blocking access to the building or causing traffic and safety concerns around the dropbox, so they were asked to move, according to Fahnestock. When they understood why they were being asked to move, most had no problem with the requests, he said.
In an email after the meeting, Fahnestock said the First Amendment area sign went up before 8 a.m. on Aug. 27 and was taken down before 8 a.m. on Aug. 28.
rsmith@chicagotribune.com