Church Point council talks social media policy

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The Town of Church Point is moving toward the implementation of a social media policy for all of its employees following a recent post related to an incident at the town’s Nov. 18 Magistrate’s Court.
“We have one website, and we have one Facebook (page). We pay a guy to man that Facebook and website,” said Mayor Ryan “Spanky” Meche. “Anything that happens in the Town of Church Point is the intellectual property of Church Point. So from now on, no business of The Town of Church Point is to go on anybody’s personal page that works for the police department or streets, sewer or water.
“It will have to be turned in to our social media and website director, and I will sign off on it. Any television interviews will be run through me, and I will sign off on it.”
Meche then discussed a Facebook post made on the Church Point Police Department’s Facebook page in reference to an incident that occurred during the Nov. 18 Church Point Magistrate’s Court.
During the court session, Church Point Police Chief Dale Thibodeaux and his officers exited the Magistrate’s Court while court was still in session.
The post was later removed.
“Facebook is a thing that whatever you read, it gets blown to monumental proportion, and I just like to make sure that there’s no lies, there’s no hidden, there’s no hiding because I don’t like that,” Meche said.
The Church Point Town Council unanimously approved a motion to introduce the implementation of a social media policy for town employees during a special meeting on Thursday.
During the meeting, the council also unanimously approved the introduction of a motion to add two security officers at the Mayor’s Court.
A public hearing for the two proposed ordinances will be held five minutes before the council’s regular December meeting.
Thibodeaux asked that the public hearing be postponed until the January meeting because he will not be present at the December meeting.
Meche said he would take Thibodeaux’s request into advisement as long as no television interviews are given and social media posts are made prior to the hearing.