I thought maybe there might be some people here who take pictures as members of the press. Even I started out doing photography as a member of my college newspaper. I was told several times that I couldn't take pictures at Local government or College events only to have security change their minds when I showed my newspaper ID. Sometimes I called ahead to ask what the rules were, but most of the time I just walked in and set up my tripod next to the local newspaper guy. Being a public governmental meeting means they shouldn't need explicit permission to take pictures as part of their reporting duties.
If it is an inappropriate subject for this section or POTN in general then the mods can do what they think best. It won't hurt my feelings.