Ashe County adopts social media policy and advances EMS staffing/pay study

Ashe County commissioners voted Dec. 15 to adopt a county social media policy and to advance a staffing-and-compensation study for Ashmedic EMS.

The social media policy, recommended by the personnel committee, outlines standards for employee interaction on county social accounts (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) and addresses archiving and public-records retention for posts and comments. Staff said the county uses an archive service to retain posts and comments to respond to records requests and that monitoring tools can trigger alerts for terms that affect county public policy. The policy also discusses how employees may use personal accounts without creating conflicts with their official roles. The personnel committee recommended the policy and the board approved it after a motion.

The board also reviewed responses to an RFP seeking a study of EMS staffing, personnel structure, classification and pay. Staff reported several proposals in the $30,000–$40,000 range and recommended the regional-council response as it could meet the county's timeline (staff targeted a March completion to enable implementation planning). Commissioners asked whether the study would identify pay-percentile recommendations (50th/75th/90th) to inform recruitment and retention; staff said the scope includes comparable county comparisons and classification recommendations. A motion to accept the recommended proposal was approved.

Commissioners said they want staff to examine monitoring triggers and communications protocols and to return with operational details for both the social media tool and the EMS study timeline.