During the social media discussion at the Seminole City Council meeting on August 10, City Attorney Brad Carter explained to the council that Facebook comments become an issue of liability in multiple ways, after which the council elected to not allow comments on social media.

The City Council has taken a firm position that they want to hear from the citizens. And they want to hear from the citizens through conventional means. “We have numerous ways to connect with people. The Citizen Problem Reporter, phone calls, email and personal appearance at council meetings to name a few,” said City Manager, Steve Saxon.

“Our issue is that we simply cannot keep up with the social media comments. It is not only the volume of comments being made but often it is hard to tell if issues deal with Seminole or other cities or even the county. Often the comments are made in jest or a sarcastic manner which can be impossible to decipher. Simply put, we do not want to miss the attempted communication with our people. Social media was never supposed to be the way citizens should contact us. From our perspective social media is intended to provide information to people who might not watch City Council meetings,” Saxon added.

One way to communicate is through Citizen Problem Reporter.

Citizen Problem Reporter (CPR) has a new feature that allows comments. Citizens can choose to remain anonymous or input a name and email for staff to contact them. Once a comment is submitted, it is sent to City staff to be disbursed to the proper department to solve any issues.

From now on every social media post will include all of the avenues for Citizens to contact the city. The avenues include city hall’s phone number, an email, and a link to CPR.

The City of Seminole Facebook page has been running in some capacity since 2014. In 2019, the City hired Briana Wymore, whose main function was to work social media and develop new websites. Her job description has grown, and she also works on special events as well as issues public information press releases. Wymore will continue to put informative posts on social media for the public to see.

Citizens can view the full city council meeting on the City’s YouTube page.