Council office proposes one-way social media accounts, aims to launch this month

The executive committee on Aug. 30 reviewed a draft social media policy designed to create official council office accounts that push information to the public but will not be monitored for constituent-service requests.

Margaret Darby, counsel office director, said the aim is to use the accounts as an outbound channel. "This is a way for us to push information out, not receive information," Darby said, adding that constituent issues such as service requests should continue to go through existing departmental channels and public‑records processes.

The draft identifies Twitter/X, Instagram and Facebook as initial platforms and limits the number of staff authorized to post. Darby said the office will retweet or repost only other official government accounts during emergencies and will not repost non‑government accounts. Members asked whether the accounts should display a notice that they are not monitored; Chair Evans said an unmonitored notice (similar to local police accounts) would help set expectations.

Committee members raised language‑access concerns and asked that posts be made available in commonly used non‑English languages. Darby confirmed language accessibility is included in the draft. Several members asked how to provide feedback on the policy; Darby asked members to send comments to her office and to copy the Vice Mayor, and the Vice Mayor said the committee could consider a formal vote or additional feedback before the policy is finalized.

The office’s next steps are to collect committee feedback, finalize the policy text, and proceed toward the targeted account launch "by the end of this month," as stated during the meeting. The draft policy and any committee feedback will be refined by staff before further action.