Awendaw council split on video taping meetings

AWENDAW -- The Awendaw Town Council members are split on whether just anyone can videotape their public meetings this week.

A media attorney said the town is violating open records laws by not allowing the meetings to be filmed.

Mount Pleasant resident Chris Simmons videotaped Awendaw's regular meeting in June and started to record a special meeting Monday on the town's budget until a majority of council objected 4-3 and he was asked to stop. Bryan McNeal Jr., Miriam Green, Sheila Powell and Rodney Porcher voted to object to the taping and Nell Daniels, Mayor Sam Robinson and Betty Simmons voted to allow it.

Two of the objecting council members, McNeal and Green, walked out of the special meeting saying they wanted to stop the meeting until they could consult with an attorney. They returned later with Awendaw Attorney Dwayne Green, who said it was his opinion that the council could decide what kinds of taping to allow.

But Jay Bender, an attorney for the South Carolina Press Association, said prohibiting the taping violated the Freedom of Information Act and possibly Simmons' First Amendment rights.

South Carolina law says all or part of a meeting may be recorded "by means of a tape recorder or any other means of sonic or video reproduction" unless it's an executive session and so long as the recording does not actively interfere "with the conduct of the meeting."

No town is required to provide recording facilities or video-record or broadcast its meetings, but several local municipalities do. Charleston, Isle of Palms, Mount Pleasant and North Charleston regularly videotape and broadcast their councils' meetings.

Green said it's his opinion that the word "or" in the law means a public body can object to video recording so long as they allow audio recording.

"Had the statute specified that any person may record a meeting by tape recorder and any other means including video, it would have specified a right to any means of recording," Green wrote in his official opinion.

Bender said Green was straining.

"That's why people hate lawyers," Bender said, and "government lawyers in particular."

The law has never been challenged in a South Carolina court, so Green said he looked at case law in other states to defend his interpretation.

Bender, who has defended the South Carolina Press Association in Freedom of Information Act issues for 25 years, said the South Carolina law is distinctive and the General Assembly intended to allow both video and audio recording.

Awendaw council members McNeal and Green had no comment when asked why they objected to Simmons' videotaping. Green said Town Council could object to video recording if it was disruptive.

Mayor Sam Robinson said the term "disruptive" is subjective and didn't think Simmons' recording interrupted the course of the meeting.

"I never felt that," he said.

Simmons, a freelance videographer, did not attend Thursday's meeting, but three local television crews set up cameras to video record the meetings for their news broadcasts. Simmons said Friday he wanted to record Awendaw's meetings because he grew up in town and wanted to document town happenings for his personal use.

"I do not want to disrupt the meetings," Simmons said. "I have a high-end broadcast camera. I think they were intimidated by that."