(6/21) The Town Council approved a social media policy 4-1 at the June 20 meeting that will designate the official Thurmont page as one that is for disseminating information. As a result, the Town will be able to disable Facebook comments on their official page.
The change was made because of comments made on the Town’s Facebook page that officials deem inappropriate. In previous meetings, Town Manager Jim Humerick said that both town officials and residents have been continuously "bullied" and "ridiculed" in the comments of the town’s Facebook posts. On June 20, Humerick said the Town had previously only been allowed to delete obscenities from the page, though doing so would require an approval process to protect the commenter’s First Amendment rights.
The Town hopes the new ordinance would eliminate concerns by disallowing residents to comment in the first place. "It’s not limiting free speech because there’s 100 avenues that they can come and contact us," Thurmont Mayor John Kinnaird said.
Kinnaird assured residents that there is "ample opportunity" for residents to voice their opinions and discuss issues through the weekly town meetings, by calling or emailing the commissioners and mayor directly and by stopping by the town offices.
"If there’s a situation or something to be discussed, I think a broad-based discussion on Facebook is not the way to do that," Humerick said. One of his main concerns are outside influences changing residents’ opinions if a discussion on Facebook.
During public comment, however, Thurmont Resident Marty Burns said he has been unable to reach town officials for questions in the past and is concerned other residents will experience the same when the comments are disabled. "I just think it restricts too much," he said. "I think we’re all about disseminating information and hearing from the public and I wish you wouldn’t do it."
Thurmont Resident Ashley Menzel, who has been a professional social media manager for 15 years, pointed out that none of the other local town Facebook pages have their comments disabled. "And you’re right, you can’t delete [Facebook comments] but you do have recourse to report them if you have those situations, that is something that is available to you," she said.
Because of her work experience in social media, Menzel empathized with the Town regarding the task of fielding comments from residents but suggested they consider hiring someone to manage the social media rather than disable comments. She also encouraged them to think of the missing demographics they will be alienating by limiting their social media pages.
After hearing the public comments, Bill Buehrer felt as though he could not vote for the ordinance to go through. After voting opposed, he said, "After hearing some of the comments, I don’t know if it’s even the right thing."
