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Anchorage Municipality Women’s Commission proposes Facebook outreach page, will seek legal guidance on records
Summary
The Anchorage Municipality Women’s Commission voted to pursue a new Facebook outreach page as a 'push-only' platform and asked staff to consult municipal legal counsel about records retention and commenting; commissioners also discussed featuring women-owned businesses and Women’s History Month materials.
The Anchorage Municipality Women’s Commission discussed launching a new Facebook page to promote events and highlight women-owned businesses, and asked staff to confirm how such a page would be handled under municipal recordkeeping rules.
"I was thinking we were just gonna start a new ... Facebook page," Sharon, chair of the commission’s Outreach & Communications committee, said, adding that she could serve as an administrative contact but that staff and legal would need to clarify administrator roles and whether the page could be configured as push-only with comments disabled.
A staff member told the commission that boards and commissions should consult legal counsel about social-media pages because posts and public comments can become municipal records. "According to AMC 4.05.060B, members have a duty to inform the chair of attendance and that no‑show behavior is recorded," the staff member said while describing how staff document meetings and absences (the same staff briefing recommended consulting legal on social-media recordkeeping).
Commissioners discussed options including: having the municipal health department or staff host the page and limited administrative access, adding content to existing municipal pages instead of creating a new page, and using a third-party or staff to produce posts. Leslie, a commissioner, encouraged strategic posting to align with events such as Women’s History Month and suggested spotlighting women‑owned businesses and historic proclamations the commission has collected.
The commission did not take formal action to create the page at this meeting; instead, commissioners asked Sharon and staff to contact municipal legal counsel (referred to in the meeting as "Jessica"/"Uni Legal") and return with guidance on records, commenting policy, and administrative access.
Next steps: Sharon will follow up with legal and with Marie (staff) to find whether other commissions host Facebook pages; the commission also discussed preparing content (for example, a Canva post) to distribute via municipal channels once legal and administrative questions are resolved.
