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Fountain Valley council revises social media guidance, adds translation and complaints policies
Summary
City Clerk Rick Miller presented eight council policy updates; council removed a requirement that members 'must' only share official city posts, kept a prohibition on expressing opinions on upcoming council matters, and asked staff and city attorney to return with redlines and a proposed enforcement path.
City Clerk Rick Miller brought an annual review of city council policies to the Feb. 17 study session, outlining five proposed revisions, two draft new policies and the removal of one redundant policy. The packet included updates to recycling/conservation and sidewalk/tree maintenance diagrams, an updated social media policy, a labor relations resolution reference update and proposed additions to address complaints against councilmembers and language‑translation procedures.
Councilwoman Constantine objected to wording in policy 7.1 that required councilmembers’ social posts about upcoming official business to "be a share of the official city post," saying the phrasing was too restrictive for routine information sharing (calendar links, agenda notices and event graphics). After discussion the council agreed to remove the mandatory 'must be a share' language and instead direct staff to change the requirement to that social posts "should" not provide an opinion on matters coming before the council. Constantine said she has posted meeting notices, links and graphics on her personal pages without expressing opinions and supported allowing such sharing.
Councilmembers also discussed remedies for violations; one member proposed adding explicit consequences to the policy, but a majority said enforcement and personnel consequences are better handled in a separate policy or administrative regulation. Councilmember Harper and others said they prefer retaining the prohibition on expressing an opinion about matters before council members, while making the sharing requirement less prescriptive.
Clerk Miller said he will work with the city attorney to prepare a redlined version incorporating council feedback and to check for overlap with administrative regulations, particularly those governing city employees and records retention. The council asked staff to bring back a revised policy for further study and possible adoption.
The council additionally directed staff to incorporate a language translation policy to guide in‑meeting translation requests and accessibility accommodations and to bring back the proposed complaints‑against‑councilmembers policy for review.
Councilmembers emphasized clarity, non‑duplication with existing administrative regulations, and the need to preserve transparency while avoiding over‑regulation of routine information sharing.
