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AN ORDINANCE related to the county’s use of digital communication technology; amending Ordinance 12550, Section 1, as amended, and K.C.C. 2.14.010, and Ordinance 12550, Section 2, as amended, and K.C.C. 2.14.020.
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PREAMBLE:
1. During the past several years the county council has adopted a series of legislative measures designed to promote transparency and accountability in county government. Most recently, in December of 2010, the council adopted Ordinance 17008, which focused on the county’s use of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, for communication with county residents.
2. Ordinance 17008 encouraged the use of social media by county agencies and called for the creation of a Social Media Advisory Group for the following purposes, among others: to suggest policy options for the use of social media, to identify legal and policy requirements applicable to social media and potential issues that social media might give rise to, and to identify cost-effective ways of addressing the public records retention requirements for social media.
3. In its report to the council, the Social Media Advisory Group suggested, among other recommendations, that “the Council may wish to direct certain agencies or departments to consider clarifying existing policies to ensure compliance” with existing policies and requirements, such as records retention. Another such requirement is responding to public record disclosure requests.
4. In his letter transmitting the Social Media Advisory Group report to the council, the county executive suggested to the council that the advisory group be reconvened to continue its examination of the county’s current and potential use of social media and to broaden the scope of its work to include other forms of digital communication, such as smart phone messaging, text messaging, and automated voicemail transcription.
5. The existing Public Records Committee, created in 2006 by ordinance 15608, has agreed to serve in the role sug...
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