Commission discusses limiting and scheduling city‑staff social media posts for elected officials; staff to return with options

Lauderhill commissioners at the June 16 workshop discussed whether to formalize how city communications staff support elected officials’ social‑media posts and event promotions.

The idea, raised by Commissioner Campbell and discussed with City Manager Kylie Hobbs, was to explore a prescribed allotment of city‑staff posting time or a fixed number of posts for each elected official so staff scheduling would be more predictable and perceived as fair. The suggestion included examples such as assigning specific days for mayoral and commissioner posts or specifying a set weekly allotment of posting time.

Hobbs and other commissioners said the concept merits review but stressed complexity: officials run different numbers and types of events, and some offices (notably the mayor’s) will naturally produce more outgoing material because of the mayor’s representational role. Hobbs recommended the communications/marketing department return to the commission with several options (she suggested 3–5 approaches) rather than the commission adopting a prescriptive framework immediately. She also clarified this conversation concerned use of city staff and in‑kind city resources, not private posts or outside staff retained by individual commissioners.

Commissioner Dunn noted that the communications department should present professional recommendations, and the commission agreed the department should draft options illustrating how posts would be scheduled, examples of allowable in‑kind support, and distinctions between in‑kind staff time and hard‑cost sponsorships. No formal action or policy was adopted; staff will present options in a future workshop.