Clarkston City Councilman Richard Bisio called for a new policy to handle “inappropriate” and “harassing” comments on social media.
At the Jan. 12 city council meeting, Bisio said a new Facebook page ‘City of Clarkston – from the City Office? could ‘turn into another forum for off-point arguments about city policy or government, which may discourage others from following the page.”
City Manager Carol Eberhardt created it as an official page last December, without direction from council to to do so, to post ‘factual? information about city business. She was not in attendance during the discussion, Jan. 12, as she was on vacation.
City resident Cory Johnston created and administers a ‘Village of Clarkston” Facebook page, which he uses to post information on city related issues. Members on that page regularly express opinions, sometimes considered critical of city decisions or officials.
Johnston’s page discloses it is not directly affiliated with the city, and is a public group open to discuss the village. The page allows anyone to create posts after joining, but the page was created for discussion. Comments on Johnston’s page are often considered critical of the city.
In one recent post, local resident Tammie Heazlit said she was accused of bullying Eberhardt over a recent city issue on the Depot Park bridge, and asked fellow Facebookers if she was out of line for her public stance against how the city handled it.
Responses to Heazlit ranged from supporting her right to post her opinion to others critical of her comments.
‘If you would put this much time and energy into your career/business/job you’d probably be somewhat successful. Get a life,? Cory Miller wrote to Heazlit.
Others thanked Heazlit for her passion and concern, and reassured her efforts to post her opinion made her successful.
‘In my view of the world, caring for the environment and standing up for what you believe in is a demonstration of success,? said Mark McCloy.
Eberhardt said she monitors the Village Facebook page to stay aware of information posted to it.
‘That page concerns me because I think the folks that have joined the group believe it’s a city page, when, indeed that couldn’t be farthest from the truth,? posted Eberhardt on her page.
She said everyone has a right to post anything they want.
‘However, I guess we all know that media in general, and social media in particular can’t exactly be held up as accurate information,? she said.
At the Jan. 12 meeting, several council members said they wanted to be cautious not to give residents the idea they were trying to infringe on people’s First Amendment rights.
In 2014, Eberhardt was accused of censoring critics after she kicked a resident off a ‘Positively Clarkston? page on Facebook, which she previously said she created on behalf of the city.
Eberhardt said she booted the member because of constant negative postings bothering others who belong to the page for positive discussions about the city.
Some accused Eberhardt silencing critics while others applauded the decision to kick negative posters off the page.
Michigan Municipal League, a non-profit association of municipalities, created a social media policy for governments stating municipalities should establish rules of use before a social networking page is created. The first post on the ‘City of Clarkston – from the City Office’page was Dec. 30, 2014. No official guidelines are currently posted on the official page.
Social media policy for the city will be further discussed by the Communities Committee and the city manager.
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Vehicles must not be parked on any City of the Village of Clarkston street from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. through April 1, for snow removal. Any vehicles parked during those hours will be towed.
City residents can pay winter 2014 taxes are payable at city of the Village of Clarkston now through Feb. 17 without penalty. City Hall is located at 375 Depot Street in Downtown Clarkston.
For more information, call the city at 248-625-1559.