Lakewood officials approve social media policy

Lakewood trustees approved the village’s first social media policy Tuesday night.

The village’s social media accounts now must include an introductory statement and link to the village’s website.

Services also will feature the village’s logo and contact information when possible.

The chief administrative officer or a designee has the power to approve and maintain the village’s Facebook account.

“I think it’s good to have a policy in place, whether it’s perfect or not,” Trustee Patrick Rexroat said. “I think it will always be evolving based on how things go. ... Anytime you put in a policy like this, it’s never done; it’s never perfect.”

According to the policy, village personnel are not allowed to conduct political activities or private business on village accounts. Content also must be managed, stored and retrieved to comply with open records laws.

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

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

The accounts provide valuable tools to help inform residents of meetings, severe weather, road closures and special events, chief administrative officer Jeannine Smith said in a memo to the board.

Rexroat said trustees voted to not allow the public to comment on the village’s Facebook page because it should be used for informational purposes.

“For a village our size, we don’t want to be in the business of having to moderate a website like that,” he said.