(file photo)
By Howard Packowitz
BLOOMINGTON – The McLean County Board on Tuesday adopted guidelines for how county employees should use social media, but board members exempted themselves from the new rules.
Bloomington Republican Jacob Beard, from District 7, said board members should have the right to express views that might differ from county-wide policies.
“We wanted to clarify that as county board members, we are speaking for ourselves, and not the county itself,” said Beard.
“So we didn’t want to get into a scenario that our Facebook pages or Twitter accounts were interpreted as official county accounts,” he added.
On a voice vote, all but two board members favored Beard’s amendment excluding them from the policy.
Official social media pages for county-wide offices, like the state’s attorney or sheriff, can not be used for political purposes. However, critics accused McLean County Clerk Kathy Michael of using her office’s official Facebook page to aid her reelection. The county’s vote last night was not based on Michael’s use of social media during the election.
County Administrator Bill Wasson said he didn’t know whether the controversy from last fall’s election led to the new social media policy.
Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]
