ENM Council discusses social media policy update

The Elko New Market City Council discussed updates to the city’s social media policy. The council also provided direction on those updates at its Thursday, June 12, meeting.

City Planner Brandon Malecha presented the information, noting city staff has been discussing a need to update the policy as the city’s current policy was adopted in 2017. He said city staff was seeking feedback and recommendations on numerous items including what social media platforms to use, the policy itself and whether comments on social media posts should be left on or turned off. City staff was recommending comments be turned off.

Comments on social media

Councilor Kate Timmerman believed the city should turn comments on social media posts off, with people being directed to call or send emails to the city or council members.

“I like the comments,” said Councilor Josh Berg. “I think it will take us in an opposite direction and be a step backwards.” He thought people engaging in the comments or providing comments toward the city was a positive. He did agree that most comments were not productive, but there has been some good information in comments.

City Administrator Tom Terry said if comments are left on and there is a question, there was an expectation the city will respond.

Councilor Megan Thielfoldt was unable to attend the meeting, but had provided a letter stating she believed comments should be left on. Ultimately she was not in favor of turning comments off.

Mayor Andrew Ganfield questioned having the comments left on, but thought it was a situation where the city was “damned if they do and damned if they don’t.” He noted there was also the possibility if three council members comment that could be a violation of open meeting laws.

Councilor Amanda Novak noted there can be a lot of misinformation, but she didn’t know the best approach. She said at the end of the day posts from the city will be shared and people will comment on them on their own social media pages. She agreed there should be transparency, but answering comments could take up more city resources.

Timmerman asked what other cities did. Terry replied most have comments on. He noted some cities in researching comments, have found comments from people who are not even constituents of the city.

Berg said in going through comments he has found some off-the-wall remarks, but also some that have provided helpful information.

The council’s direction was to keep comments on.

Social media updates Malecha said the city currently uses Facebook as its sole social media platform. He noted a lot more people use Facebook. The city had been active on...

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