Council adopts social media policy after debate over sharing to community pages

Spring Heights City Council adopted a social media policy (Resolution 2026-05) on April 21 after discussion about whether the city’s official posts should be shared to privately controlled community pages.

During the discussion, councilors expressed two central concerns: (1) allowing the city to push posts automatically to private pages can create confusion about source and control during sensitive periods such as elections, and (2) elected officials should not directly instruct staff to produce posts. Council members agreed to remove the clause authorizing sharing posts to third-party community sites (item two) and to edit the line that prohibited staff from acting “for political purposes,” narrowing the restriction to a general prohibition on elected officials directing staff to create posts.

Staff explained that current practice does not automatically push content to private community pages; administrators of those pages must still choose whether to re-post city material. Council members suggested adding Instagram and other modern platforms to the list of official channels. The motion to adopt the resolution with the discussed edits was made by Gary Anderson, seconded by Eileen Moss, and passed unanimously.

The adopted policy will be posted as part of the city’s records and implemented by city staff; council members said they expect staff to update operational procedures and training to reflect the new rules.

What changed: item two (automatic sharing to private community pages) was removed; language in item three was edited to remove the three-word qualifier “for political purposes” so that elected-official direction of staff is broadly prohibited; staff will clarify the implementation protocol going forward.

The council did not specify an effective date beyond the adoption; staff will publish the updated policy and guidance.