HomeMy WebLinkAbout[04c] Facebook ST.JOSEPH
FIRE DEPT Fire Board Agenda Item - 4(c)
MEETING DATE: March 6th, 209
AGENDA ITEM: Facebook
BACKGROUND INFORMATION: The department would like to set up a St.Joseph Fire Department
Facebook page. The purpose of this page would be able to keep the public updated on current things
that are happening with the fire department. We could use it for fundraisers, openings on the
department,fire prevention,fire safety, reminders to the public about smoke alarm batteries, help
keeping the fire hydrants clear of snow....etc
There are many other departments around our area that already have a Facebook page. We would set
it up that only a few members would be allowed to post anything to the page,they would have to post
something new at least 2 a month, and would also have to watch how they respond to comments made
to the page.
BUDGET/FISCAL IMPACT: None
ATTACHMENTS: No
REQUESTED ACTION: Have the fire board approve the department to set up and run a Facebook page.
Social Media and Digital Images, LMC Model Policy for Fire
Departments and Emergency Medical Services
League models are thoughtfully developed by our staff for a city's consideration. Models should be
customized as appropriate for an individual city's circumstances in consultation with the city's attorney.
Helpful background information on this model may be found in the Information Memo"Computer and
Network Loss Control".
4110This icon marks places where the city must customize the model. They offer
additional provisions, optional language,or comments for your consideration.The
icon, and language you do not wish to include, should be deleted from this model
before use. Make other changes, as needed, to customize the model for your city.
City of , Minnesota
Fire Department and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Social Media
and Digital Images Policy
Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to protect nonpublic employee data,medical patients,the public,the
operations of the Fire Department, and public confidence in the Fire Department and its
employees. This policy is not intended to limit the right to freedom of speech or expression, but
is intended to protect the rights of this organization, its members, and the public they are sworn
to protect. Employees and volunteers are advised that their speech, directly or by means of
instant technology either on or off duty and in the course of their official duties that has a
connection to their professional duties and responsibilities, may not be protected speech under
the First Amendment. Speech that impairs or impedes the performance of the Fire Department,
undermines discipline and harmony among co-workers,or negatively affects the public
perception of the Fire Department may be sanctioned.
This policy supplements the City's general social media policy in order to provide more specific
guidance on unique Fire Department and EMS issues. To the extent that the policies contradict
one another, the more specific guidance of the Fire and EMS policy should apply,unless
otherwise specified.
Ownership of Work-Related Images
All photos, videos, digital images, or recordings taken by any employee or agent of
while responding to any fire or other emergency or while engaged in any training are "work-
related images"and are the property of . Work-related images include,but are not
limited to, any written, auditory, and/or visual messages communicated via or on Fire
Department resources or via or on personal devices and/or social media, videos, or pictures
gathered while on Fire Department/City business.
Inset the name of the fire department/city.
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Social Media and Digital Images Page 1
Permission to Take Work-Related Images
Work-related images shall not be taken of any emergency response, training exercise, or fire
except as permitted by policy or as directed by . All work-related images shall be taken
using Fire Department-issued equipment,unless otherwise directed by the officer in charge of
the scene. Work-related images taken by Fire Department employees using privately owned
equipment are also governed by this policy.
1160
Insert the appropriate person for your city, such as Chief Captain, Information Officer, etc.
Reasons for Taking Work-Related Images
Photos or other recordings may be taken to assist in the diagnosis or treatment of accident/fire
victims. Such images should be forwarded to the appropriate medical care provider and then be
deleted from Fire Department/City files. Work-related images, including recordings showing
possible evidence of a crime, must be forwarded to law enforcement. Other work-related images
used for internal, departmental purposes such as training or publicity shall be taken in a manner
that minimizes the possibility of identifying accident victims.
Control and Dissemination of Work-Related Images
All work-related images shall be stored in the Fire Department's or city-designated computer
system and be governed by the City's records management policies and procedures. Work-
related images shall not be stored,retained, or disseminated in any manner by anyone other than
the officer(s) appointed to review all images and approve retention,release, or dissemination and
cannot be used for personal profit or business interests or to participate in personal political
activity.
Professionalism and Public Confidence
The appearance of professionalism is important to public safety and the public's confidence and
trust. Accordingly, an employee's personal use of social media shall not use any work-related
images, department logos, or any images which depict an employee in any uniform or in which
the employee uses their job title or is otherwise identified as an employee of the department,
without prior approval from an officer appointed to review all images and approve release and
dissemination of such images. Similarly, in order to maintain the appearance of professionalism
and public confidence,no employee shall post any material on any social media that is
detrimental to the Fire Department/City's effective operation. Employees shall not disseminate
protected,private, nonpublic, or confidential information including,but not limited to,the
following:
(a) Matters that are under investigation.
(b)Patient and employee information protected by HIPAA/medical confidentiality laws.
(c) Personnel matters/data that are protected from disclosure by law.
Definition
Social media are internet and mobile-based applications, websites and functions, other than
email, for sharing and discussing information, where users can post photos, video, comments and
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Social Media and Digital Images Page 2
links to other information to create content on any imaginable topic. This may be referred to as
"user-generated content" or"consumer-generated media."
Social media includes,but is not limited to:
• Social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and online dating
services/mobile apps.
• Blogs.
• Social news sites such as Reddit and Buzzfeed.
• Video and photo sharing sites such as YouTube, Instagram, SnapChat, and Flickr.
• Wikis, or shared encyclopedias such as Wikipedia.
• An ever-emerging list of new web-based platforms generally regarded as social media or
having many of the same functions as those listed above.
Reporting Violations
Any employee becoming aware of or having knowledge of a posting or of any website or
webpage in violation of this policy may anonymously report possible violations to any
department officer or supervisor.
Policy Violations
Violation of this policy may be considered an extraordinary breech of the public's expectation of
privacy and of Fire Department rules and regulations regarding the use of social media and may
subject the offender to discipline and possible termination of employment.
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RELEVANT LINKS:
C. Social media
1. Included or not
Social Media,LMC Model Determine whether you want to incorporate your social media policy into
Policy.
your computer use policy, or create a separate policy. The more official use
of social media permitted, the more likely a separate policy is needed.
Social Media and Digital Some city functions, such as the fire department or EMS, may benefit from
Images,LMC Model Policy
for Fire Departments and additional social media policies tailored to their unique work duties and
Emergency Medical situations.
Services.
2. Official city presence
An official city presence in social media probably would be dedicated to
communicating information only on official city business such as upcoming
city council meetings and events,programs in the parks and recreation
department,public works projects like road closures, and so on.
The city would determine whether it wanted a centralized or decentralized
social media strategy. A centralized strategy would have a single department
or person responsible for all official social media postings. Decentralized
would allow various departments or staff to communicate their individual
postings.
Regardless of which strategy is chosen, there should be an official list of who
is allowed to represent the city in social media and access to the system
documented in the event a backup person is needed. Among other
expectations, staff with social media responsibilities would be expected to
avoid posting information or comments that are critical, false, or disparaging,
or could be damaging to the city's reputation.
Access to social media sites through city technology and during regular work
hours would be approved, and may even be allowed from personal
technology so that timely postings to social media can happen in accordance
with the city's guidelines. For instance, an employee in charge of using social
media for snow emergency plowing notices might need to access the city
social media sites after normal hours and, therefore, would be allowed to do
so from home or from a web-enabled phone. When staff are assigned to serve
as the official voice and required to access social media after hours,the city
should consider what posting official city business from personal technology
means in the context of the city's records retention policies. It might make
sense to encourage that any communications related to official city business
be retained in a separate file so that it is easy to produce all city-related
business information posted to social media should there be a request made
under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act for all communication
related to a particular topic.
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RELEVANT LINKS:
It also would be helpful to provide etiquette guidelines with examples of
expected behavior by staff charged with using social media on behalf of the
city. Etiquette guidelines might include the following:
a. Account names
General social media pages, such as Facebook pages should clearly indicate
they are tied to the city. Staff charged with representing the city could be
expected to clearly illustrate on their account that they work for the city. This
could be done by requiring all staff who use social media to include a city-
designated prefix on their account names,much like the conventions set up
for email years ago. For example, if John Doe, the public works director, is
maintaining a public works Facebook page for the city,the page might be
named "Mosquito Heights Public Works John Doe"and his Twitter account
might be "MH-JohnDoe." Sally Deer, the clerk,might be"Mosquito Heights
Clerk Sally Deer"on Facebook and"MH-SallyDeer"on Twitter. Profile
information for pages maintained by designated staff should include staff's
city job title, and could include the city's website address, street address, and
other relevant information.
b. Transparency
Personal opinions don't belong in an official city social media
communication unless the city has asked a person to share personal views
and comments.
If that's the case,the person sharing his or her comments should clearly
identify the comments as the poster's own opinions, not those of the city. A
good precautionary principle for the city and its official communicators to
follow—regardless of the city policy on posting opinions—is that if you'd be
embarrassed to see your comment appear in the news, don't post it.
c. Honesty
When posting information on social media, city representatives should be
honest, straightforward, and respectful while being mindful of the need to
maintain confidentiality and privacy when appropriate. Individuals should be
sure that efforts to be honest don't result in sharing non-public information
related to co-workers,personnel data, medical information, claims or
lawsuits, or other non-public or confidential information. Where questions
exist, staff should consult with their supervisor or city attorney.
d. Mistakes
If a city representative makes a factual mistake on social media,the
individual should correct it as soon as he or she is aware of the error.
Corrections should be upfront and as timely as possible.
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RELEVANT LINKS:
If the individual is correcting a blog entry, the author may choose to modify
an earlier post, and make it clear the posting has been corrected.
The web contains a permanent record of mistakes, so attempting to disguise a
mistake likely will make things worse.
To prevent errors, a city employee should fact check official communications
before they are posted in social media. Potential errors could create city
issues ranging from minor to significant, and some may create unforeseen
liability issues.
For example,posting to Facebook the wrong opening date for enrollment in a
parks and recreation program likely will create confusion, inconvenience,
and even frustration among residents who try to enroll their kids in a program
too early and essentially end up wasting their time, or who find a program
full because they tried to enroll their kids too late for a program. It's unlikely
this type of mistake would create city liability.
But posting incorrect information about a new city ordinance related to land
use zoning stands a greater chance of creating liability if someone acts based
upon that incorrect information, and later is penalized for the action they took
based upon the incorrect information officially posted by the city.
e. Legal requirements and city policies
PolicyMedia,LMC Model Make sure not to post material that may violate federal or state laws. Follow
Social Media and Digital city guidelines closely. Examples of cautions in this area include the
Images,LMC Model Policy following:
for Fire Departments and
Emergency Medical
Services.
• Do not upload,post, transmit, or make available content you know to be
false, misleading, or fraudulent. All statements should be true and not
misleading. Do not post photos that infringe on trademark, copyright, or
patent rights of others.
• Non-public and confidential information such as information related to
co-workers,personnel data,medical information, claims, or lawsuits
against the city should never be shared. Posting such information could
create liability issues for the city and the person posting the information.
• Do not post content that violates existing city policies, that exhibits hate,
bias, discrimination,pornography, libelous, and/or otherwise defamatory
content.
• Only post content that is suitable for readers and viewers of all ages. Do
not post content that a reasonable citizen may not consider maintaining
the dignity and decorum appropriate for government. Do not post
information that affiliates the city with or advocates for a political party
or candidate running for council.
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RELEVANT LINKS:
• Do not post any photo or video without permission of each person in the
photo or video. Do not post the name of any individual without
permission from that person.
f. Third-party sites
Only post to third-party sites when it is relevant to the city.
g. Media contact
Employees who are contacted by the media should follow city media
relations/communications protocols.
3. City staff personal use
Social Media,LMC Model City staff without official social media responsibilities likely use social
Policy.
media to keep in touch with friends, family, colleagues, and groups with
Social Media and Digital mutual interests. As part of their personal use of social media, it's not
Images,LMC Model Policy
for Fire Departments and difficult to imagine that sometimes city staff may comment on city-related
Emergency Medical issues. Such a scenario often starts out innocently enough, but can lead to
Services.
problems down the road.
An example of use of a personal social media account that crosses the line
from strictly personal to city-related could be of the public works director
who has a personal Twitter account. The public works director created the
account to talk about and follow others with shared interests on topics such
as hobbies, raising kids, and professional sports.
After being on Twitter a while, the public works director finds an official
account for a professional group that he belongs to—the American Public
Works Association. He already regularly visits the APWA website, but
following the APWA on Twitter means he gets real-time updates about
things that impact his job—national wastewater rule changes, upcoming
conferences, and job openings. He's now started to merge his personal and
professional lives.
Now consider that he's developed a following on Twitter that includes his
friends who live in the city, and some of their friends start to follow him. One
day the public works director realizes he has a broad network of people
interested in what he has to say, and some folks are following him just
because he works for the city.
He starts to see Twitter as a way to communicate important information to
residents about snow emergencies or ice rinks opening, and he does so. His
following grows because people know they can get important city-related
news when it matters most.
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RELEVANT LINKS:
At first, the city information being communicated is straightforward, doesn't
bear any real negative impact for the city, and actually helps the city do its
work—residents are moving their vehicles before plowing begins!
a. Employee right to speak publicly
This is not a new issue. Employees have always had the ability to
communicate on city issues. Previously, employees could write a letter to the
editor or circulate a flyer. However, social media has dramatically increased
the speed, audience size, and impact of these communications.
In the scenario above,the city should still consider what it means that the
public works director has started to use personal social media for official city
business. The city could determine it would like to make use of social media
part of the public works director's official job duties. Some questions to
consider in this scenario include:
• What happens if the public works director is disgruntled because a new
equipment request is denied, and he posts information blasting the
council?
• What if he comments negatively about a staff member, or shares non-
public information about that person in his personal social media
accounts?
• What happens if the city faces a data request, and a personal computer or
other technology has been used to communicate on the topic of interest?
• What happens if he takes a job in another city, and the city loses those
connections to the public that he developed via social media?
City staff generally have the right to speak publicly as private citizens on
"matters of public concern." Such speech, even if made in the workplace or
as part of official duties, may be constitutionally protected if the interests of
the employee, in commenting upon matters of public concern, outweigh the
city's interests in promoting the efficiency of the public services it performs
through its employees. Be careful to balance these interests before taking any
action against an employee for the content of the speech he or she publicizes
on social media sites. Of course, not everything is defined as a matter of
public concern—comments on private matters with no impact on the greater
public generally are not considered protected speech. Cities should consult
with their city attorneys as appropriate on this issue. Staff never have the
right to reveal non-public or private data.
b. Etiquette guidelines
Etiquette guidelines for staff who use social media on a personal basis might
include the following:
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RELEVANT LINKS:
(1) Account names
Personal social media account names should not be tied to the city. This will
help clarify that the individual is not speaking officially on behalf of the city.
For example, the personal Twitter account for John Doe, the Mosquito
Heights public works director, should be just"JohnDoe,"his Facebook page
"John Doe's,"and so on.
Staff interested in using social media officially on behalf of the city should
talk with their supervisor.
(2) Legal requirements and city policies
Individuals who use personal social media accounts are not immune from the
law, or from the need to follow existing city policies and guidelines related to
harassment prevention, media relations, computer use, and other city
policies. Examples of cautions in this area include the following:
• Individuals should be encouraged to refrain from uploading,posting,
transmitting, or making available content known to be false, misleading,
or fraudulent. They should be encouraged not to post photos that infringe
on trademark, copyright, or patent rights of others.
• Individuals never have the right to post non-public and confidential
information such as information related to coworkers,personnel data,
medical information, claims, or lawsuits against the city.
• Individuals should not use city-owned equipment to post to personal sites
content that violates existing city policies, that exhibits hate, bias,
discrimination,pornography, libelous, and/or otherwise defamatory
content.
• Individuals should post to personal sites only when the content is suitable
for readers and viewers of all ages.
4. Elected officials' social media use
Polis Social Media,LMC Model Some elected officials already use blogs, microblogs, Facebook, and other
y social media to connect with constituents and to promote political agendas.
This is a reasonable use of social media, but elected officials should not use
official city social media sites for campaigning purposes,just as they would
not use the official city website or newsletter for campaigning.
It would be useful for elected officials to consider the effect personal
comments about official city business can have on the city as a whole. Just as
with face-to-face comments, electronic comments via social media can serve
to"stir the pot"when an official speaks in opposition to an official city
position adopted by a vote of the council. The city council might consider
voluntary policy language to prevent this kind of awkward situation.
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