Village to draw up social media policy

The Fredonia Village Board is looking at drawing up a policy to archive its social media posts, as required by state law, something which they have not been doing.

Under the Wisconsin Public Records Law, government agencies must archive “any material on which written, drawn, printed, spoken, visual or electromagnetic information is recorded or preserved, regardless of physical form or characteristics, which has been created or is being kept by an authority,” so that it can be retrieved in order to satisfy an open records request.

In November 2015, the Attorney General’s Office released a Wisconsin Public Records Law Compliance Guide that directly addresses social media as public records, stating that “content posted on social media by or on behalf of a government authority must be produced if it is responsive to a public records request. In short, government social media is public record in Wisconsin.”

Government agencies, including police and fire departments, increasingly communicate with the public via Facebook, Twitter and other social media accounts, often alerting people to special events or personnel news related to their offices or the community.

It also is frequently used to issue official press releases or updates and make announcements regarding investigations, incidents or other public concerns.

The village and Fredonia Fire Department frequently use both Facebook and Twitter to publish news about the village or let residents know about events going on in the village.

Trustee Richard Abegglen, who chairs the village Technology Committee, said the village will look into hiring a consultant to help in developing a retrieval system. 

Belgium Village Clerk Julie Lesar said the village has looked into hiring a consultant to archive its social media posts, but have not done so.

Ozaukee Press reporter Mitch Maersch contributed to this report.