(4/15) The Town Council approved a social media policy in a 4-0 vote, that is respective of the First Amendment rights of townspeople. This policy will implement new guidelines for all social media with the commissioners expecting to review guidelines for individual sites at a later date.

The social media policy was reviewed by Town Attorney Leslie Powell, represented by Clark Adams at the Mar 28 meeting. The attorneys found that the Town is constrained under the First Amendment not to delete comments since they are a government entity. However, this does not include comments that involve hateful or harmful speech. The sites can also remove comments that don’t follow their specific guidelines.

"I want my Facebook page to be something that my grandchildren can read," Mayor John Kinnaird said at the Feb. 14 meeting. "That’s no longer the standard that other people follow, so we have to be the ones to set that standard and adhere to it."

According to Chief Administrative Officer Jim Humerick, both town officials and residents have been continuously "bullied" and "ridiculed" in the comments of the town’s Facebook posts. While the town is committed to maintaining first amendment rights, they are also aware of the consequences that an unlimited virtual forum can cause.

"Stability is the biggest issue," he said at the Feb. 14 town meeting. "We’re here to provide information to citizens and I think it’s gotten away from that unfortunately."

Due to concerns of violating First Amendment rights, the town has conducted extensive legal research in order to define guidelines. At the Feb. 14 meeting, Powell said the new policy would allow the town to have the authority to remove public comments containing obscenities, discrimination, sexual content, illegal activity, and threats to health and safety. Before removing comments, however, administrators of the Facebook page would be obligated to record them through screenshots.

Commissioner Wes Hamrick said, "When you craft any type of message [on social media], write as though you don’t want to embarrass your own mother."

The Town Website will continue to be the main source of information, according to the new policy. Since the Town Facebook page will be used mostly to disseminate information from the website, the Town can choose to turn off comments. The policy will also protect the town from any liability caused by inappropriate comments or harmful links posted to their pages.

Powell said, "[The policy] is not intended to prevent people from communicating or exercising their First amendment rights to petition the government — just not in that forum."