Resolution 230-2020 RESOLUTION NO. 230 -2020
A RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS OF MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA,
ADOPTING A SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY FOR THE USE OF
SOCIAL MEDIA FOR COUNTY BUSINESS;AND PROVIDING
FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
WHEREAS, the Board of County Commissioners of Monroe County, Florida
(hereinafter'BOCC") recognizes the need for use of social media to promote public awareness
and boost participation of the County's programs, policies and services; and
WHEREAS,the BOCC recognizes the inexpensive and effective method and popularity
of the use of various social media platforms, including (but not limited to) Facebook, YouTube,
Linkedln, Instagram, Flickr,or NextDoor(Collectively"Social Media")by and amongst County
elected officials and officers. County employees, and the public; and
WHEREAS, the County does expend funds archiving social media for purposes of
complying with Florida's public record retention requirement: and
WHEREAS, the BOCC has determined that a Social Media Policy provides greater
efficiency in government by outlining the procedure and expectations of the County's use and
presence on Social Media; and
WHEREAS, the BOCC has determined that adopting a Social Media Policy serves a
public purpose;
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS OF MONROE COUNTY, FLORIDA:
Section 1. The recitals set forth above are incorporated herein as findings of fact by
the Board.
Section 2. The BOCC hereby adopts the Social Media Policy, attached hereto as
"Attachment A" and by this reference incorporated herein.
Section 3. This Resolution shall take effect upon adoption.
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PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Board of County Commissioners of Monroe County,
Florida, at a regular meeting held on the 191"day of August, 2020.
Mayor Heather Carruthers Yes
Mayor Pro Tem Michelle Coldiron Yes
Commissioner Craig Cates Yes
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Commissioner David ue Yes
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Commissioner SylviaMMurphy Yes
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BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
OF MONROE CO NTY FLORIDA
Y
,.: KEVIN MADOK,CLERK
BY:
By: M or H er Carruthers
As Deputy Clerk
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Attachment A
Social Media Policy
Monroe County, Florida
This Social Media Policy ("Policy") establishes the policy and practices addressing the use of
social media for official Monroe County("County")business by elected officials, employees, and
officers and offers policy information for the public's use of social media for County business.
For purposes of this Policy, "Social Media" means and includes websites and applications that
enable users to create post, convey or otherwise share information, ideas, messages. text, images,
GIFs, pictures, audio, videos, or other content (collectively "Content") which includes but is not
limited to Facebook Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter, Flickr, Nextdoor, and YouTube. This Policy
shall govern and supersede all previous policies and practices on the subject of the County's use
of Social Media. Any questions regarding this Policy or its application should be directed to the
County's Public Information Officer.
The County's Public Information Officer is designated to create, maintain, and monitor the
County's Social Media. The Public Information Officer shall provide access information to the
County Administrator and will regularly monitor the Social Media accounts for compliance with
this policy.
The purpose of the County's use of Social Media is to increase and promote public awareness and
maintain open and professional communications amongst the County and the public.
The County's intent in use of Social Media is not to create a public forum, but instead to provide
a means to disseminate County information to educate and inform the public through the effective
and inexpensive communication tools of Social Media in compliance with applicable open
meetings ("Sunshine Law")and Public Records Laws.
Social Media may contain threaded discussions, chat rooms, listservs and other communication
forums. These limited public forums are provide to allow members of the public to share ideas
and information pertaining to certain issues affecting the County. While the County encourages
users to interact through these limited public forums on the specific issues presented, the County
expects members to affirm that they will interact in an appropriate manner as set forth below. The
County does not agree with or endorse every comment that users may post, at their own risk, on
any of its websites.
The following is Prohibited Content and may be, but is not obligated to be, removed, hidden.
archived, or edited by the County:
• Content that is obscene, vulgar, or explicit including masked words (***),
acronyms and abbreviations or are abusive, threatening,hateful or intended
to defame any person, business, organization or governmental agency.
• Content intended to intimidate, humiliate, threaten or assault others.
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• Content that promotes, fosters or perpetuates discrimination of any kind.
• Content that is clearly off topic,disruptive, random or unintelligible.
• Content that is fraudulent or deceptive and intended to mislead.
• Content that is intended to compromise the safety or security of the public
or public systems.
• Spam, advertising, solicitations or includes links to other sites.
• Content that promote products, non-county services, political organizations
or campaigns.
• Content that violates or appears to violate a legal ownership interest of any
person or entity, including (but not limited to) matters or items that are or
may be subject to copyright, patent or trademark protection.
• Illegal conduct or encouragement of illegal activity.
• Hyperlinks to third-party websites,except as the County deems appropriate
in accordance with the Social Media Policy.
• Content that violates any policies of Monroe County.
Use of certain communication forums may be for a particular timeframe. Once the particular
discussion is deemed closed by the County, the forum may be closed and archived.
The County strives to post accurate and relevant Content, but does not guarantee the accuracy of
any information posed on its Social Media and assumes no liability for damages resulting from
reliance on any inaccuracies. The County does not guarantee that its Social Media will be
uninterrupted, permanent or error-free. The County reserves the right to discontinue Social Media
at any time.
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