Thinking of barging in on a Huntsville city official unannounced and recording them while they conduct business?

That action could land you an appearance in municipal court and a fine.

The Huntsville City Council voted to limit access to city government buildings, including City Hall, to prevent city officials and residents from being harassed by “First Amendment Auditors” and others seeking to post confrontations on social media.

“One of the things that brings this on is the advent of a popular thing that is occurring across the country, the so-called First Amendment Auditors who sweep into a building, overwhelm your security staff and the next thing you know, they are all over the building sticking cameras in people’s faces, as a general rule, trying to incite anger or misconduct on the part of employees,” City Attorney Trey Riley said. “It’s quite a disquieting experience.”

Riley said he recently experienced such action.

“It’s very disruptive to city business,” he said. “It’s invasive of the privacy of our employees and it destroys their ability while they are there to service the public.”

Under the new ordinance, people will not be allowed to drop in unannounced, record videos or take photographs in restricted or private work areas without the consent of those conducting business.

The rules will not apply to areas designated as open meeting areas such as the City Council Chambers. Those areas are subject to the Open Meetings Act of Alabama. Residents are free to record public meetings in those areas, Riley said.

People are still allowed to record in public-facing areas like lobbies, provided they do not disrupt ongoing business. adds Sgt. Chris Jackson of the Huntsville Police Department,

“In HPD lobbies, for example, individuals often visit to file reports directly with officers,” he said. “A citizen who is not recording themselves may not want their conversation—potentially involving sensitive or protected information—captured by a third party. In such cases, we would likely ask the person filming to step away to respect the victim’s privacy.”

Riley said city government buildings have security personnel in public entrances to screen for weapons. He said stairway access doors in places like City Hall are locked to prevent access to individual floors where city employees are doing business. The individual offices in the building are locked as well.

“This ordinance is intended to enhance those security efforts and also to enhance the privacy of not only employees but of citizens as they come to conduct city business,” Riley said. “They don’t want while they are giving out their confidential information, application of a business permit or building permit or business license to have someone over them filming them or asking them a bunch of questions or disturbing them while they give their Social Security number or other confidential information.”

District 4 City Councilman Bill Kling asked Riley if the new ordinance would prevent a person from having access to their elected officials or if it would interfere with activities such as the President’s Forum hosted by Council President John Meredith in the City Council Chambers.

“You would be allowed to invite whoever you wanted to in your office,” Riley said. “By the same token, someone would not be able to enter the building and any floor and barge into your private office and start filming you, question you and interfere with whatever relationship you have with a citizen there at that point.”

Riley said signage would be put up to help residents who arrive at a city facility needing to conduct official business. He also said security personnel would also offer guidance and, in some cases, provide an escort to the area where the resident needs to conduct business

District 3 City Councilwoman Jennie Robinson said she observed the recent posting of an incident of “First Amendment Auditors” in Huntsville.

“First Amendment Auditors tried their level best to provoke a reaction and didn’t get it,” she said. “Everyone really did a fine job of responding appropriately firmly, but politely.”

District 1 City Councilwoman Michelle Watkins asked Riley what kind of penalties violators of the ordinance could face. Riley said violators could face fines set by municipal court.

He said fines will likely not be “exorbitant limits, but at least it will be such that someone will have their attention gotten.”

“The idea, of course, is not to try to punish people, but to maintain security, safety and privacy in the building,” Riley said.

Riley said the ordinance does not apply to playing fields or recreational facilities.

“They have their own sets of rules that are not impacted by this,” he said.

An example of a First Amendment Audit can be found here: Huntsville, AL West Precinct 1st Amendment Audit