(a) The Board of Supervisors finds that the efficient, unimpeded administration of the functions of the Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector and the Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk is essential to the provision of the County’s document recording, marriage licensing, assessment services, payment services, and other vital County services.
(b) The Board of Supervisors finds that the Hall of Records Campus (as defined herein) is unique among County facilities in that the pathways which are part of the Hall of Records Campus are not thoroughfares and instead merely connect the parking lot and the Hall of Records building. These pathways are the sole means by which patrons utilizing the parking lot may access the Hall of Records building. These pathways were constructed solely to provide for the passage of individuals engaged in County Hall of Records business and not as a public passageway or as an area dedicated to expressive activity. The Board of Supervisors takes note that the Hall of Records Campus is not directly accessible via public sidewalks and roadways nor has it been otherwise dedicated to First Amendment activities and is thus not a public forum.
(c) The Board of Supervisors finds that the nature of the governmental operations provided at the Hall of Records Campus is such that commercial solicitors and vendors may intimidate, impede, or mislead individuals who have come to access County government services and information at the Hall of Records Campus. The purpose of the Hall of Records Campus is to provide patrons with vital County services including assistance in filing business licenses, marriage licensing, assessment services, and payment services. Commercial activity on the Hall of Records Campus is an intrusion upon, and creates significant interference with, the ability of individuals to access the County’s services and information. Patrons are confronted by in-person solicitors and vendors peddling third party products and/or services just at the moment they are seeking to access free government information and/or services. This interferes with the function of the Hall of Records Campus.
(d) The Board of Supervisors finds that direct in-person soliciting and vending of commercial products and services at the Hall of Records Campus leads to congestion, intimidation of patrons and County employees, as well as the distribution of misleading information. Specifically the Board of Supervisors finds that the County has received from patrons of County services at and within the Hall of Records Campus, numerous written complaints, including complaints of being accosted by aggressive solicitors, of being misinformed by third party commercial solicitors that certain of the County Clerk’s functions have been relocated to the premises of a private business, and of third party commercial solicitors wearing lanyards with identification badges similar in appearance to those worn by County employees resulting in County patrons misidentifying such commercial solicitors as County employees.
(e) The Board of Supervisors finds that County employees have reported incidents involving third party commercial solicitors that were intimidating and confrontational and that gave rise to employees’ concerns for their personal safety.
(f) The Board of Supervisors finds that the complaints and incidents described above have necessitated the installation of additional security surveillance equipment, the posting of advisory signage, and the deployment of additional security personnel at the Hall of Records Campus. Such preventative measures have not been sufficient to deter interference by commercial solicitors with County services and functions. Nor have state general laws and criminal statutes (disturbing the peace, trespass, fraud, etc.) been sufficient to effectively protect the public and County employees from misinformation, intimidation, or confrontation, due in part to the lack of law enforcement resources available to respond to lower priority offenses and the delay in response time to such lower priority offenses. Furthermore, the physical characteristics of the Hall of Records Campus do not accommodate placement of advisory signage in locations that would provide County patrons with notice of such misleading or intimidating activities prior to, or contemporaneously with, the patrons’ point of contact with such misleading or intimidating activities. This chapter includes regulations addressing these issues and enables the County to enforce such regulations with its own Code Enforcement Officers and other authorized personnel.
(g) The Board of Supervisors finds that in addition to the above-discussed activity for which it has received complaints from patrons and employees alike, any in-person commercial solicitation and vending by third parties at the Hall of Records Campus has the potential to create congestion, and interfere with and distract from the County’s ability to provide its essential services to patrons. Thus, the Board of Supervisors finds that commercial solicitation and vending at, on, or about the premises of the Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector and the Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk at the Hall of Records Campus obstructs, interferes, and conflicts with the proper conduct of essential governmental functions and may create a health and/or safety hazard within, about, or upon such premises.
(Ord. 4308, passed - -2016)