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Residents criticize city communication; council cites broadcast contract and online tools
Summary
Public commenters told the Ironton City Council that the city's website, Facebook page and text alerts have not been updated; council members said the city pays for a broadcast vendor, encouraged use of the website's 'report a problem' function, and acknowledged room for improvement posting minutes and videos.
Multiple residents used the public-comment portion of the March 27 Ironton City Council meeting to urge improvements in municipal communication, saying the city website and social-media channels have been inactive and that important project updates are not reaching residents.
A resident told the council the website had not been updated since January and that the city Facebook page and YouTube uploads were inactive; the commenter said separate opt-in text updates for the Green Valley project were working but general municipal communications were inconsistent.
The mayor and several council members responded. The mayor noted the city pays a vendor—identified at the meeting as Dave Lucas—to broadcast meetings and said the city has invested in a new website and city email accounts. "We do pay for Dave Lucas communication to broadcast our meetings in an effort for transparency and communication," the mayor said. Council members acknowledged gaps: minutes from recent meetings were not yet posted, and a student operator failed to correctly upload the last meeting’s livestream video until after the meeting.
Council members and staff pointed residents to the website’s 'report a problem' feature as an official channel for requesting service and said the mayor’s office issues text alerts. Several councilors said they personally try to share accurate information but that communications work is spread across staff and elected officials.
No formal action was taken; council members said they would continue using existing tools and asked staff to improve posting minutes and videos where feasible.
