Lamar council pulls plug on city social media comments

Why it matters

Residents in Lamar will now get city news on social media without a place under each post to answer back in public, so reaching officials takes a phone call, an email, an appointment or a trip to a council meeting. The change also leaves the start date and the full list of covered accounts unclear.

Council votes unanimously to end online comments

Lamar City Council approved Resolution 2610-02 at its Oct. 26 meeting and authorized the mayor to sign it, adopting a policy to disable comments on city social media accounts.

The clerk reported the vote was unanimous, according to the meeting recording, and the city administrator said the policy would apply across city social media sites.

The change turns the accounts into information channels for sharing city information rather than places for online discussion, changing where residents see updates and where they can respond.

Mayor points to basic information for young people

The mayor said city pages should be suitable for young people seeking basic information, such as whether polls are open, as Lamar moves its accounts toward information sharing.

The administrator said the police department already had comments disabled and that he believed Parks and Recreation did as well, so part of city government was already operating without open comment threads.

Residents keep phone, email and meeting options

Residents can still call or email the administrator, contact council members, request an appointment or speak during public comment at a council meeting once online comments are disabled.

Those options keep residents in direct contact with the administrator and council members, though the response will come by phone, email, appointment or at a meeting rather than in a comment thread on a city page.

The meeting record did not give an implementation date or identify which city accounts the policy covers, leaving residents without a start date or a full list of pages to watch for the change.