City Administrator Cynthia McNabb presented a consolidated social media policy draft to the Duval City Council on Aug. 19, saying the city’s policies “haven’t been updated since 2013” and that the draft combines older, separate policies into a single, modernized document.

Why it matters: the draft updates how the city moderates official social channels, clarifies that city pages are a limited public forum for information and service, and adds a right of appeal for users whose content is hidden. Council members raised questions about artificial intelligence, staff responses to non‑city posts and expectations for monitoring and archiving public records.

Key elements of the draft
McNabb said the draft consolidates three prior policies, standardizes moderation practices and reflects legal updates about First Amendment and privacy issues. She summarized key points: city social accounts are a limited public forum the city uses “to give information and for residents to communicate with the city when appropriate,” the policy sets administration and moderation standards, and the policy introduces an appeal process for hidden content.

AI and public‑records concerns
Council member Schaeffer asked whether the policy addresses AI. McNabb said the draft does not prohibit AI use: “AI is, I think, a large term that, captures a lot of different tools,” she said, and described current practices such as running copy through grammar or readability tools. Mayor Amy Okerlander and other council members flagged two concerns: government use of AI should be limited to factual (not persuasive) content and AI use creates public‑records retention obligations that can be costly and complex. McNabb said the city plans a separate AI policy in the coming months to govern enterprise tools and record‑keeping.

Responding outside city channels and archiving
Council members asked whether staff may comment on third‑party posts. McNabb and other staff said the draft intends to cover broader city use of social media beyond the city’s own pages and that it is acceptable for official city accounts to engage with partner organizations’ posts (for example, thanking volunteer groups). The mayor emphasized city staff should not respond to city business using personal accounts; staff confirmed official accounts are tracked by archiving software when users are logged in and that such posts become public records.

Monitoring expectations
Staff said the city will not monitor social media 24/7 and will respond to life‑safety or time‑sensitive issues, but will not answer every tagged comment; citizens should use email for requests that require a formal response. The policy draft sets workday engagement as the norm and asks staff to limit dialogue on social platforms while providing factual clarifications when appropriate.

Next steps
McNabb said the draft will be circulated for comment and that a revised version will be prepared for a future council meeting with tracked edits. She also said the city will develop a separate AI use policy and encouraged council members to submit suggested edits (for example, adding commissions to the definitions and clarifying whether city staff may post from official accounts on other organizations’ posts).

Bottom line: council supported modernizing the city’s social media rules and asked staff to add explicit guidance about AI, archiving and commenting on non‑city posts before final adoption.