Lakewood officials to vote on social media policy

Lakewood trustees will vote on implementing the village’s first social media policy Tuesday.

Earlier this year, the Village Board directed staff to create a policy for Lakewood social media accounts.

“The village endorses the managed use of social media to enhance communication and information exchange, streamline processes and foster productivity,” according to a village memo prepared by chief administrative officer Jeannine Smith.

Under the proposal, social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter would include an introductory statement and link to the village’s website. Such services also would include the village logo and contact information when possible.

All social media accounts would be approved and maintained by the chief administrative officer or a designee, and they would be considered village property.

Social media pages also would state that posted comments are monitored and the chief administrative officer reserves the right to remove obscenities, off-topic comments, personal attacks and posts from people pretending to be village employees or officials.

Such services are a valuable tool to help inform residents of meetings, severe weather, road closures and special events, Smith said in the memo.

This policy is not meant to address one particular form of social media because “advances in technology will outpace our ability to keep up with emerging technology and create policies governing its use,” according to village documents.

Village personnel would not be allowed to conduct political activities or private business on village accounts. Content also would be managed, stored and retrieved to comply with open records laws.

In July, village attorney Michael Smoron suggested that there should be two official sites, one for the village and one for the village-owned RedTail Golf Club.

The current Lakewood Facebook page has about 200 followers. The RedTail Golf Club has about 1,200. There are no Lakewood or RedTail Twitter accounts.

Tuesday’s meeting will be at 7 p.m. at the RedTail Gold Club, 7900 Redtail Drive.

Village President J. Carl Davis was not available for comment Monday.