SUNDRE — Although the municipality already has a policy pertaining to social media, administration has recommended initiating a review process to amend the document to outline steps to address misleading information posted online.
Linda Nelson, chief administrative officer, said during the regular March 8 meeting conducted by teleconference, that administration sought to have a conversation with council about the matter.
“Now, we do have a social media policy in place. However, it could be expanded and amended to bring it up to current standards,” said Nelson.
The intent of updating the policy would also include parameters directing administration to draft council-approved statements setting the record straight on incorrect or misleading information being spread on social media, she said.
“The electors of the Town of Sundre certainly do have the right to know when information is incorrect or when it is deliberately posted to mislead the public.”
Pending initial discussions between council and administration during the upcoming spring workshop, the updated social media policy would then be submitted to the bylaws and policy review committee for further comments before eventually coming back to council for an official resolution, she said.
Coun. Richard Warnock wanted to know whether the process would also therefore involve updating council’s code of conduct bylaw, or if the social media policy would be a separate bylaw.
Since there is already a separate social media policy in place, Nelson said it would be a matter of amending that document without necessarily requiring any changes to the code of conduct “unless there were changes to the policy that did warrant an update to the code of conduct bylaw.”
As the agenda item was a verbal discussion for council’s information, no motions followed.