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Cary officials favor one‑way government social posts; board backs updating communications plan
Summary
Trustees reviewed a new village communications plan and signaled support for using social platforms as a government broadcast tool rather than an interactive forum, while directing staff to bring a revised social-media policy for formal approval.
Trustees on Cary’s Committee of the Whole reviewed a proposed village communications plan on June 17 and broadly favored treating the village’s social channels as a one‑way government communications tool rather than an interactive public forum.
Assistant Administrator Radcliffe presented the plan, saying it covers purpose, external communications, media‑relations protocols, graphic standards and a social‑media policy. Radcliffe told trustees the plan would standardize messaging and visual identity and update the village’s social-media approach, which the staff adopted in 2019.
Radcliffe described two policy options for social media: option 1 would treat village pages as government communication channels and disable or limit comments; option 2 would retain a limited public‑forum model that allows comments but clarifies staff will not engage interactively. “With either option, the main communication channels that we have for receiving responses from and interacting with staff still exist,” Radcliffe said, listing phone and email contact routes and meeting attendance as alternatives.
Several trustees, including Trustee McCallpine and Trustee Dudek, voiced support for the non‑interactive approach, citing moderation burdens and concerns about fake or hostile accounts. “I would be more inclined to limit it to an outgoing only, not to dissuade any sort of public comment, but there’s just so many hurdles to cross to determine if this is somebody who is a real person,” a trustee said.
Trustees and staff discussed related elements of the communications plan: logo and style‑guide consolidation (the village currently uses several logo variations), updates to the public comment sign‑in form to capture preferred contact methods and a proposal to emphasize Cary News Weekly, TextCaster alerts and the village website as primary two‑way channels for resident interaction. Radcliffe said the current social‑media policy dates to 2019 and does not reflect platform changes since then.
The board’s feedback favored option 1 (government broadcast) and asked staff to prepare a formal policy for a future board meeting. Radcliffe and staff also said they will incorporate the board’s suggestions into the communications plan and bring a formal policy update forward for approval.
No formal vote was recorded during the June 17 discussion.
