(A) City officials, including members of boards and commissions can maintain a personal presence on social media. However, to be considered personal, there can be no mention of their status as a city official. Any mention of their status a city official potentially changes the nature of the page to one for a public agency, requiring record keeping in accordance with the Kentucky Department of Library and Archives retention schedule and subjecting the entire page to Open Records requests.
(B) Elected city officials who want to interact with the community on social media in their role as a city official are required to maintain a separate social media account from their personal account if they have one. City officials will notify the City Clerk of any official page(s) utilized. The City Clerk will maintain an updated list of official pages of city officials.
(C) City officials shall conduct themselves professionally and as a representative of the city.
(D) Elected city official pages shall clearly indicate that any content posted, or submitted for posting, is subject to public disclosure. Additionally, the following guidelines shall be posted conspicuously on the page followed by required guidelines.
(1) As a public entity the city must abide by certain standards to serve all its constituents in a civil and unbiased manner.
(2) The city’s social media sites prohibit the posting of content and/or comments containing any of the following:
(a) Comments not topically related to the particular site or blog article being commented upon.
(b) Profane language or content.
(c) Content that promotes, fosters, or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, marital status with regard to public assistance, national origin, physical or mental disability or sexual orientation.
(d) Sexual content or links to sexual content.
(e) Advertisements, solicitations, phishing.
(f) Conduct or encouragement of illegal activity.
(g) Information that may tend to compromise the safety or security of the public.
(h) Campaign ads or related content advocating for or against a candidate for office.
(i) Comments unrelated to a topic or post as well as multiple off-topic posts or spam by a single person.
(j) Content that violates a legal ownership interest of any other party.
(E) No comments shall be deleted unless in violation of posted guidelines. Deleted comments shall be provided to the City Clerk and must be saved for one year.
(F) City officials shall not conduct city business through their social media sites. If receiving a specific request from a citizen, the city official shall state words to the effect of: “Thank you for your question. Please email me at citymfvl@scrtc.com or contact me at 270-524-5701. I look forward to speaking with you.”
(G) Elected officials shall not discuss issues pending before the Council. Elected officials may seek public input but shall not respond to comments. Engaging in substantive conversations on social media could require retention of the posts and may violate the Open Meetings Act if other elected officials are also engaging in the discussion.
(H) City employees are bound by the city’s social media policies in the City of Munfordville Employee Handbook.
(Ord. 16-021, passed 12-6-21)