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Residents press council to restore comments on city Facebook page; city manager defends policy
Summary
Public commenters urged the council to allow comments on the city's main Facebook page, saying disabling comments reduces public participation; City Manager Ryan Havela said comments were turned off after legal review and to reduce staff time addressing non-applicable posts and that department pages remain active.
Multiple residents used the Citizens Forum on April 21 to urge the Copperas Cove City Council to restore comments on the city's main Facebook page, saying the move discourages public participation and gives the appearance the city does not listen.
"By turning off comments, the city is unintentionally giving the message that it does not listen to the general public," resident George McMaster told the council. McMaster said social media had led him to in-person participation and asked the council to "strike the no comments policy from on the city's Facebook page." James Pierce and Ray Payne echoed that concern, with Payne suggesting the city use controlled town halls and departmental booths to improve outreach.
City Manager Ryan Havela said the comments on the main city page were disabled after consulting the city attorney and because many comments were not directly applicable to the post, consumed significant staff time, and frequently required corrections that generated further comments. "The comments, have been turned off for the city's main Facebook page," Havela said. He added that separate department pages for police, parks and recreation, library and fire remain active and that staff will bring further discussion back to council if desired.
Council did not take immediate action to restore comments; the manager said staff would be available to return with more information if the council requested further discussion.
