qathet Regional District (qRD) directors have received recommendations to amend the public communications and engagement policy.
At the August 18 committee of the whole meeting, directors were presented a three-part recommendation, for the regional board to amend the policy as recommended by staff, to have the complaints and enforcement policy reviewed and to bring back a revised policy to directors, and to adopt a social media policy.
Electoral Area E director Andrew Fall said the policy amendments proposed were good and pulling out the complaints component makes sense because it is a separate issue. Having a detailed social media policy also makes sense, he added.
Communications advisor Shelley Termuende said amendments to the communications policy came from recommendations brought forward by consultants the regional district hired to develop the strategy.
“In order to streamline that policy, we did change it slightly,” said Termuende.
Electoral Area D director and committee of the whole chair Sandy McCormick said is happy with what had been done to amend the policy and that it would be an improvement.
She added, however, that there are situations that fall through the cracks and she was going to add a fourth recommendation that the board refer the policy to the board’s strategic planning process.
“The reason why I want to refer it, rather than make a change now, is because I don’t know if it should be in the board policy to contact a community group when their budget is being reduced without any warning,” said McCormick. “I don’t know if it should be policy or common practice in the interest of common sense and courtesy.”
McCormick said regarding media releases, she has seen them in print and didn’t know anything about them.
“All of us as elected officials are accountable for what the regional district does so it would be helpful when you are sending out media releases that you send them to all members of the board, so we at least know the information is out there, should we be questioned,” said McCormick.
The directors unanimously adopted the recommendation to the board for adoption of the amended communications policy. The committee also carried a motion that the board direct staff to complete a comprehensive review of the complaints and enforcement policy.
Social scenarios
Regarding social media, Fall said it is good to have a social media policy.
“We’ve talked about this in the past and we’re all aware of the risks of social media, but we are also seeing the need for it, or at least the motivation for it for some announcements,” said Fall. “Like it or not, a large segment of the population gets a lot of information through social media. As a start, this is great, and we can monitor it. As I understand the policy, it is mostly about the use of social media to direct people to the qRD website and other sources of information.”
Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne said he had an issue with part of the policy that refers to responsibility on personal social media accounts. He said regional district staff and directors must state that the opinions are their own and do not reflect the views of qRD. He asked if directors must say in every post that their opinions are their own.
Gisborne said the policy also states that staff and directors must not post personal comments or status updates that reflect negatively on the integrity of the organization, nor to air grievances that should be directed through the human resources staff.
“I understand why regional district staff should be in this policy, however, directors, as elected officials, sit in a unique position,” added Gisborne.
He proposed an amendment that reference to directors be removed from the policy in the section on responsibility for personal accounts. The motion did not get a seconder.
The recommendation was carried, with Gisborne opposed.
McCormick then put forward a motion that communications with community groups regarding budgetary matters be discussed at a strategic planning session. The motion carried.
