Trice accused of First Amendment violations in halting remarks she identified as public attacks on Commissioner Battie
On Jan. 20, during a routine report to the Sarasota city commissioners, City Attorney Joe Polzak said that, in February, he and City Auditor and Clerk Shayla Griggs would be presenting recommendations to the board members about revisions to their Rules of Procedure.
He characterized the changes as “modernized, updated.”
That news came coincidentally in the wake of Sarasota residents having accused Mayor Debbie Trice of violating speakers’ First Amendment rights during the Jan. 5 City Commission meeting.
Polzak indicated that he and Griggs had spent considerable time on the initiative, adding that they had been “updating [the rules] quite a bit.”
During a Jan. 14, 2025 workshop, the commissioners discussed potential changes to the city’s rules. Among the topics was the issue of personal attacks, though Commissioner Jen Ahearn-Koch couched that in the context of dealing with remarks during years when City Commission elections take place.
“I would like more clarity on what is a personal attack,” she said at the time.
“You all definitely need to be on the same page with this one,” city Auditor and Clerk Griggs recommended to them. “That has gone awry.” It is inappropriate, Griggs said, for the commissioners to “pick and choose” who they will allow to make certain types of remarks, “because we hear about it.”
Then-City Attorney Robert Fournier did explain, “There’s not a whole lot of case law that really discusses that subject.”
To be considered a personal attack, he continued, the comments must not be focused on a position a board member has taken on an issue.
However, Fournier said, “I do think, at the same time, you don’t want to prevent someone from speaking and be too thin-skinned about it,” as people have a right to make remarks to the commission.
Then-Mayor Liz Alpert pointed out that the commission’s Code of Conduct says “you can discuss an issue without naming names.”
“People need to be reminded of that,” Fournier told her.
Robert’s Rules of Order allow a board member to say, “Point of Order,” Commissioner Kathy Kelley Ohlrich noted, when a violation of the Code of Conduct occurs.
“Try to admonish the speaker first,” Fournier responded. If the person continues, he added, “Then silence them at that point.”
Alpert suggested that if a member of the board feels a speaker’s comments are problematic, that commissioner can say, “Point of Order,” and then ask for a determination from Griggs or the city attorney about whether the remarks are a violation of the Code of Conduct.
“I do think anybody should be able to call it out,” Fournier said, “if they have a concern.”
Nonetheless, Alpert replied, the city attorney probably should make the determination about a violation. “The bigger issue,” she added, “is determining what is a personal attack and what is not.”
Referencing City Attorney Polzak’s Jan. 20 remarks regarding the updated version of the Rules of Procedure, The Sarasota News Leader did inquire of the city’s Communications staff whether that document would include any changes in response to the First Amendment issue.
Jan Thornburg, general manager of the Communications Department, wrote in a Jan. 20 email, “[O]ur understanding is that the Rules of Procedure for City Commission meetings are being reviewed by the City Attorney. Included within those rules (adopted by resolution by the City Commission) are the code of conduct and persons addressing the Commission. All elements within the resolution are being reviewed and recommended revisions will be brought to the City Commission for consideration.”
The personal attack issue arose during the board’s regular meeting on Jan. 5, with Mayor Trice ending up admonishing two city residents for approaching that point as they offered remarks during two the Input periods.
Residents also have accused Trice of violating speakers’ First Amendment rights by cutting them off after they reached the allowed 3-minute mark for remarks to the board and kept talking.
The incidents prompted at least two Sarasota residents’ letters to city leaders, complaining about the action. One of those, written by long-time city resident Virginia Hoffman, was published on the Citizens for Sarasota County Facebook page, where The Sarasota News Leader reviewed it.
In comments on that post, other residents — including two former local government leaders — expressed support for Hoffman’s position.
The second letter was provided to the News Leader by former Sarasota city commissioner Eileen Normile:
The Jan. 5 incidents also were the focus of two more sets of remarks during the regular City Commission meeting on Jan. 20, with both speakers stressing First Amendment rights.
In the beginning …
On the morning of Jan. 5, after Trice called on Victor Woods, who had signed up to speak during the first Citizens Input period, he asked whether it would be all right for him to stand to speak. Trice assured him that that was fine as long as he spoke into the microphone provided on the table facing the dais.
After thanking the board members for allowing him to offer comments, Woods addressed Commissioner Battie, who is the District 1 representative on the board. That district includes the historic, African American community of Newtown in north Sarasota.
“How you doing, Kyle,” Woods said. “Nice to see you.”
His reason for being present that day, Woods continued, was to talk about noise problems in Newtown.
“I don’t live in Newtown,” Woods said, adding that he is a “national speaker” and that actor Kevin Hart had played him in a movie depicting the story of Woods’ life. “You can look it up, if you want,” he told the commissioners.
“The reason that I’m here,” he added, “is some of the people in Newtown have been calling me about the noise, telling me about it.”
Then he explained, “I live [in Lakewood Ranch] next to doctors, lawyers, people that won the lottery. They don’t look like me,” he pointed out. “They look like most of you.”
All of the commissioners except Battie are white.
“If I go to play my music loud,” Woods continued, other Lakewood Ranch residents are “going to go and call the police. If I don’t turn the music down, I’m going to jail that night.
“That’s not tolerated,” he added, referring to playing loud music in his neighborhood.
Woods emphasized that loud music in Newtown “is a problem for the poor,” noting, “I’ve never seen a city where you have so much affluence so close to poor … people. … It’s a law enforcement issue.”
“Letting you know what is going on in Newtown is completely unacceptable,” he summarized his remarks. “What’s good for white people in Sarasota is good for the Black people, even if they’re poor.”
“Can the people in Newtown get justice for all? Just basic common sense,” Woods continued.
“Kyle is my friend,” he said. “Good to see you, my brother, at work.”
Mayor Trice thanked him for his statement, but Woods continued speaking after the beeper sounded, letting him know his 3 minutes was up. As she does routinely, Trice interrupted him to address the fact that his time for remarks had ended. “You need to stop now,” she said.
“Well, we need to control the music in Newtown,” he responded.
Trice then told him that the commission would ask him to leave if he kept talking.
He told her he was leaving at that moment.
“Have a nice day,” he added.
Moments later, Newtown resident Ronnique Hawkins also stressed the noise problems in Newtown.” Woods had indicated that she was one of the people in that community who had alerted him to the issue.
At one point, Hawkins said that she believes Battie “is failing [the] legacy” of the person she understands to have been the city’s first Black commissioner. “The issue in Newtown with the noise ordinance is being seriously ignored,” she told the commissioners.
As Hawkins began playing video on her cell phone to underscore some of her concerns, Battie asked whether Trice was “going to allow [Hawkins] to attack [him].”
“No more attacks of anybody,” Trice responded.
Hawkins continued with what appeared to be another video, without commenting on Trice’s admonishment.
Trice did stop Hawkins at another point to tell her that the commissioners “cannot answer questions” that speakers ask of them, in accord with the Rules of Procedure.
“I understand,” Hawkins said.
Another interruption regarding a personal attack
The afternoon of Jan. 5, during the final period for Citizens’ Input, Jim Lampl, a downtown Sarasota resident who regularly appears before the board, addressed the commission.
He pointed out that nearly 2,000 residents live in the condominium towers in downtown Sarasota. “I would submit that we are a very light-touch burden for the services of downtown when you consider the density,” Lampl said. “So we’re in a quandary [as] to what this culture of the animus for downtown residents is.”
Then, without naming any commissioner, Lample pointed out that during a past board meeting — he referenced the Dec. 1. 2025 session — “One of our commissioners was talking about the noise problems downtown, and he was heard to say — and I quote — ‘That’s the price they pay for living in the downtown urban core.’ ”
Lampl was referring to Commissioner Battie, who had made the remark during a discussion of the city’s Sound Ordinance.
As Lampl continued on Jan. 5, Mayor Trice interrupted him. “It looked like you’re doing a personal attack,” she said.
“This is professional,” Lampl replied, noting — again, without using Battie’s name — that Battie made his comment at the dais.
“But you are singling out a commissioner rather than [the] commission,” Trice told him.
When Lampl stressed that he was not using the commissioner’s name, Trice said, “You are still singling out an individual.”
Lampl responded that he would modify his statement to make it general.
“OK,” Trice told him, allowing him to proceed.
When Lampl continued to talk after the timer’s “Beep” sounded, Trice thanked him, indicating that he had used up his 3 minutes.
Lampl replied that the timer showed he had 8 seconds left, but City Auditor and Clerk Griggs pointed out that the timer actually was showing that he had gone 8 seconds beyond his 3 minutes.
About two weeks later …
On the morning of Jan. 20, as the latest City Commission meeting was underway, Lampl again had signed up for the Citizens Input period.
“I wish to talk about a subject that’s pretty important to this body, to the city and to the country,” he began.
Then Lampl showed the commissioners that he had with him a “pocket copy of the Constitution of the United States.”
He added, “I think you knew this was coming after the [Jan. 5] meeting.”
Lampl proceeded to read the text of the First Amendment from the booklet.
“And then we have the Code of Conduct,” he continued, using what appeared to be an iPad to show that to the board members.
Lampl also read information from a city document explaining the reason for the Code of Conduct: “The City Commission believes that wise decisions can best be made in an atmosphere that allows for constructive public debate and, therefore, adopts the following code for the conduct of its public meetings:”
Lampl next read aloud the code itself: “We may disagree, but we will be respectful of one another. We will direct all comments to issues. We will not engage in personal attacks.”
He suggested that the commissioners could look up the definition of “personal attacks,” noting, “It seems to be a very cloudy issue around this commission table.”
The definition he then read of “personal attack” said it is “an abusive remark or a criticism directly at a person’s character,” as well as “motives or personal attributes, rather than addressing the substance of their argument or ideas.”
Lampl emphasized the line regarding criticism of a person’s character.
“Last meeting,” Lampl added, “I was interrupted. I was the second citizen interrupted. We were speaking respectfully. I, for one, was directly quoting a city commissioner, the same thing you would see if I pulled [the dialogue up] on the [overhead projector] from the recording [of the meeting].”
Moreover, Lampl pointed out, “I would not expect anybody to have shut down that discussion. I think that in the spirit of ‘Take ’em, owe ’em, repairing the world, we need to start with repairing our commission. I hope that you will get better guidance. I hope we can get clarification from the city attorney and Ms. Griggs, and we can foster an open, and sometimes critical, discussion, which you all signed up for.”
“Thank you very much, Mr. Lampl,” Trice responded before calling on the next speaker.
Near the conclusion of the meeting, former city resident Martin Hyde also addressed the Jan. 5 incidents.
“We’re all Americans, right?” he began. “As I understand it, and with the benefit of hindsight, it wasn’t a very good idea to jump on people’s First Amendment rights the other week.”
Then he acknowledged, “I get it,” referring to Woods’ statement about noise issues in Newtown. “Telling you where he was and what he wasn’t. Got on my nerves, too.”
In noting the decorum demanded by codes of conduct for public meetings, Hyde acknowledged that he has come close, at times, to violating the city’s code.
“But the Constitution trumps that,” he pointed out. “It just does.”
“Time limits are absolute,” Hyde added, noting that the City Commission “meetings go on sometimes interminably.”
“But,” he stressed, “if anybody — any one of you — doesn’t like something that’s said, the way to go about it is to call a point of order, not to shout out.”
Hyde also said that while the mayor’s banging of the gavel does not bother him, “It does serve a chill. A lot of people turn up here nervous to come before you. A lot of people feel very passionate,” he pointed out, “and they’re not necessarily familiar with the process.”
He added that he does not believe it is appropriate to “smack down the gavel.”
Referring to the mayor’s Jan. 5 actions, Hyde said, “I’d like to think that that was a momentary blip. And that going forward, within reason, we’ll give everybody the opportunity to say what they feel and what they believe.”
If remarks at times are hurtful to commissioners, he added, “You don’t have to listen. … But I think there’s an obligation to let them speak.”