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Commission adopts resolution to establish notice process for public sleeping/camping complaints under new Florida law
Summary
Citing a new Florida statute, the city adopted a resolution directing administration to set up a notice mechanism (likely an email/form) so residents and businesses can properly notify the governing body before filing injunction actions alleging failure to enforce public-sleeping prohibitions.
The city attorney explained a statute enacted earlier this summer (Section 125.0231, Florida Statutes) prohibits public sleeping or camping and creates a cause of action that allows residents, businesses or the state attorney general to seek injunctive relief against a local government if notice procedures are not followed. He said the statute requires a complainant to provide notice to the governing body and that the law is unclear about what constitutes notice to a governing body rather than to an individual official.
To avoid procedural defects and potential awards of attorney's fees, the resolution directs the mayor and administration to establish a clear notice program—likely an email address and an online form—to record when a formal notice of a public-camping complaint is provided to the commission. Commissioners approved the resolution by motion, 5–0.
