A. Purpose; Applicability And Standards; Authority:
1. This section identifies the roles, responsibilities, and best practice recommendations for the use of social media by City Representatives. The City is committed to open and progressive communications between its Representatives and their constituents utilizing available and future online technologies within the limits of the law.
2. This policy applies to any social media site or tool used by Representatives in their official or employment capacity to communicate with constituents or the general public. Where indicated, certain provisions of this policy shall apply only to social media sites/tools that are owned or maintained by the City of Liberty Lake, including sites/tools that are established by the City for its' Representatives. It is primarily each Representatives responsibility to ensure compliance with this policy.
3. It is the City's preference and intent that Representatives will not utilize social media to communicate in their official or employment capacity except through social media sites/tools that are owned or maintained by the City of Liberty Lake. The use of private social media sites/tools for this purpose is strongly discouraged.
4. While social media, with its use of popular abbreviations and shorthand, does not adhere to standard conventions of correspondence, the content and tenor of online conversations, discussions, and information posts and comments should model the same professional behavior displayed during Council meetings and community meetings.
5. Social media are not to be used by Representatives as mechanisms for conducting official City business other than to informally communicate with the public. Examples of business that may not be conducted through social media include: making policy decisions, official public noticing, and discussing confidential City matters that have not been approved for release to the public. Representatives' social media site(s) should contain links directing users back to the City's official website for in-depth information, forms, documents, or online services necessary to conduct official city business.
6. The City Administrator shall have primary responsibility to administer and enforce the provisions of this chapter with respect to social media sites/tools that are owned or maintained by the City of Liberty Lake. The City Administrator may cause categories of official City of Liberty Lake social media applications, tools, or sites to be permanently or temporarily discontinued if they are not or cannot be used in compliance with this policy. The City Administrator shall exercise such discretion in a viewpoint-neutral, evenhanded, and non-arbitrary manner. If Representatives are aggrieved by an administrative decision or enforcement action of the City Administrator they may request an informal hearing with the Hearing Examiner to challenge such decision or action consistent with section 1-10-8.
B. Definitions: As used in this section, the following shall be defined as:
CHAT: | A feature that allows instant messages to be sent. |
CITY COUNCIL MEMBER: | Includes members, individually or collectively, of the Liberty Lake City Council, and any employees working on behalf of said member(s) to represent him or her, using a social media tool. |
COMMENT: | A response to a post, an article or other social media content submitted by a visitor. |
LIKE: | A feature that allows users to show their support for a specific comments, pictures, wall posts, statuses, or fan pages. The "Like" button allows users to show their appreciation for content without having to make a written comment. |
MAYOR: | Includes the Mayor of the City of Liberty Lake and any employees working on behalf of the Mayor to represent him or her, using a social media tool. |
POST: | An original entry onto a social media site by the user of the site. |
REPRESENTATIVES: | Includes, but is not limited to, the Mayor, all members of the City of Liberty Lake City Council, Planning Commission, and other City Board and Commission members. |
SHARING: | To relay a previously created post onto a different social media site. |
SOCIAL MEDIA: | Third-party hosted online technologies that facilitate social interactions and dialogue. These online technologies are operated by non-city hosted services and may be used by the Mayor or City Council Members to communicate with the public. Such third party hosted services/tools may include, but are not limited to: social networking sites (MySpace, Facebook, Linked-In), micro-blogging tools (Twitter, RSS feeds), audiovisual networking sites (YouTube, Flickr), and blogs and similar sites. |
TAGGING: | A mechanism of linking a person, page or place to a post. |
VISITOR: | A person who views the Mayor or City Council Member's social media site. |
C. Records Retention Act Compliance:
1. State and local records retention laws and schedules apply to social media content. All social media content that is required to be retained shall be maintained for the legally required retention period based on the subject matter of the content. Prior approval of the retention format and procedures for each social media tool being used must be received from the City Administrator upon the advice and recommendations of the Public Records Officer and City Clerk. Except for social media sites/tools that are owned or maintained by the City of Liberty Lake, which will be retained through the City's archiving system, it is the ultimate responsibility of Representatives to maintain current, approved retention procedures and to ensure that those procedures are followed.
2. As with any correspondence sent in his or her capacity, as applicable, Representatives postings to social media sites maintained by others must be retained by the Representatives to the extent that such content constitutes a "public record" as defined by Chapter 42.56 RCW. Printouts of postings to others' sites may suffice for retention purposes.
3. Representatives should consult with the City Administrator or City Clerk for the applicable retention schedule and method.
D. Public Records Act Compliance:
1. Content maintained in a social media format that is related to City business, including communication between individual Representatives and constituents or the general public, and a site's listing of "friends" or "followers", may be considered a public record subject to disclosure under the state Public Records Act.
2. Any social media tools used should clearly sate that all content submitted by members of the public is potentially subject to public disclosure pursuant to the Public Records Act, RCW 42.56. If it is not possible to display this notice prominently on the site, Representatives should notify users by including a link from the site to the Public Records Act, notify new users via responses to posts, and/or periodically notify existing users via broadcast message.
3. Under the state Public Records Act, the City is potentially responsible for responding accurately and completely to any public records request, including a request for public records on social media maintained by individual Representatives. Therefore, it is mandatory that records have been retained for the legally required retention period in accordance with applicable standards.
4. Users of, and visitors to, social media sites shall be notified that public disclosure requests must be directed to the appropriate City Public Records Officer pursuant to the City's Public Records Disclosure Policy.
E. Open Public Meetings Act And Appearance Of Fairness Doctrine Compliance:
1. Communication between City Council Members via social media, as with telephone and email, may potentially constitute a "meeting" under the Open Public Meetings Act, Chapter 42.30 RCW. For this reason, City Council Members are prohibited from participating in social media discussions/threads regarding City business that involve a quorum of City Council Members, and are strongly discouraged from "friending" other City Council Members or "liking" other City Council Members' posts.
2. In addition, receiving or making posts or comments regarding quasi-judicial matters via social media may violate City Council policy, local or state law, including Chapter 42.36 RCW - Appearance of Fairness Doctrine. To avoid receiving any comments on pending quasi-judicial matters that may violate the Appearance of Fairness Doctrine, City Council Members are strongly encouraged to maintain social media sites with settings that can restrict users' ability to post content.
F. Equal Access: Representatives are discouraged, in their official capacity, from posting or commenting on social media sites that require membership or subscription. When posting information or soliciting feedback on such a site, Representatives should always provide an alternate source for the same information or mechanism for feedback on the City's public website so that those that are not members of the social media site may have equal access. (Ord. 234, 12-20-2016; amd. Ord. 234A, 2-22-2021)