By LYNETTE SOWELL-STEVENS
Cove Leader-Press
The City of Copperas Cove turned off comments on its main Facebook page back on April 21, and the reaction online caused a bit of a stir initially with some residents.
The online reaction spilled over into the April 21 council meeting’s citizens forum, with several citizens attending the meeting in person, and addressing the council over the announcement made online earlier that day.
One citizen who spoke out against the decision was former city councilmember, James Pierce Jr., who served from 2015-2018. He directed his objections specifically to the current councilmembers seated on the dais.
“All seven of y’all are elected to represent us, and if you can’t really handle the comments projected towards you, you need to step down,” Pierce said. “I’m just saying that is part of being elected. I’ve been elected to two different positions, and I understand that sometimes you’re going to get really hard comments towards you, and you’ll be fed up, but part of being in an elected position is to absorb it and to do what’s right about turning off those comments.
“Before I came up here, I went on Facebook. I checked Shelby Slawson’s official page. You can comment on that. I went on Senator Pete Flores’ page. You can comment on that one. Also, if our representatives can’t take Facebook comments, our city should be in that capacity. I just wanted to tell you all that because I appreciate all y’all, every one of y’all. Y’all, do a really good job for us, but you need to keep that two-way communication going and not cut it off.”
Resident George McMaster likewise expressed his opinions on the action.
“Maybe it makes sense from policy viewpoint. However, from a public viewpoint, it brings ridicule, similar to the ridicule the City of Harker Heights received when it did the same a few months ago. It brings a very uncharitable argument against the city and its public service that shouldn’t be made. The argument is being made not by me. However, I have the unfortunate duty to say that argument out loud,” said McMaster, who is active on social media.
“By turning off comments, the city is unintentionally giving the message that it does not listen to the general public. Yes, I am very well aware social media can be absolute cesspit. However, social media can be used as a tool for public participation. As unbelievable as it sounds, really, not everyone shows up to these meetings. Not everyone checks the city website, the Facebook page, when something major happens.”
Ray Payne, a lifelong resident of the city, takes an active part in online discussions.
“I am opposed to turning off the comments because I think there is some value in having people who have reasonable opinions and have information that they can give to people who are asking questions, even if those questions are in jest or if they’re disingenuous,” he said. “You can reach out to the people who are seeing those comments and reading those comments, who may need access to that information.
“Just because the City has a policy not to respond to those people, you’re cutting off the opportunity for somebody who has the answers to those questions to answer those people in a public setting. I think the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.”
In a recent discussion the Leader-Press had with Keller and Anna Rodriguez, Public Relations Specialist, Keller talked about the various ways people can discuss and interact with the city.
One thing that Keller pointed out was that the decision wasn’t one that the council made, but rather an operational decision within by City administration.
Keller and Rodriguez – he full-time and she part-time – make up the city’s Public Relations Department, and they are the ones who post notices to the public via social media, as well as issue releases locally to a variety of local and regional organizations, media, and other entities.
The City of Copperas Cove is not a political page but is intended as one avenue to share information.
Often, people commenting would bring things into the discussion and also include inaccurate information in their comments.
Keller said things had gotten to the point where they decided not to make certain announcements on Friday afternoons, because followers would comment all weekend, and there was no one available in offices to respond or even steer someone in the right direction with an answer.
“A lot of it was, we were getting home, trying to have dinner with our families, and there’s constant having to correct the misinformation,” said Rodriguez.
“I tell everybody this; when we post something, you can rest assured, it’s factual and accurate information. It’s true,” Keller added. “People have their opinions about things, but what we share is true, when we say this is happening on this date, and these are the details. That’s true. You may disagree. Realistically, most of our page is information. It’s events, it’s happenings, it’s the fact that we have a water line break. People might have opinion about the water line break, but we’re just sharing the facts. The water lines broke. You’re going to be without water, we’re sorry, a boil water notice, we’re sorry. You can sit there and debate that all day long. But for what purpose?”
“Every time we would try to put the facts, then you would get countered with something else,” Rodriguez said. “So, when do you call it quits? When you do say, I’m not answering this question anymore because it doesn’t seem like you’re willing to hear the facts?”
In relation to Pierce’s comment, Keller further explained city council members do not have the ability to make Facebook posts using the City’s page, nor does the City Manager write the posts.
Keller also does not know what posts city councilmembers see or do not see, nor how much time they spend on social media themselves.
Keller said the City consulted with its legal firm, Denton, Navarro, Rodriguez, Bernal, Santee & Zech PC, which handles legal matters for numerous Texas municipalities.
“The government is not required to create a public forum. Under the First Amendment, the government may speak. The government is not obligated to open its communication platforms for public expression. If a City operates a Facebook page solely as a one-way information platform and disables comments for everyone, it has not created a forum…it is not a public forum. Where we would get into an issue is we have it and they post comments and we start censoring or hiding or blocking.
“But the definition of forum would be having an exchange of information. This is one-way. This is an information bulletin board.”
Councilmembers may be reached via their city email, or those who happen to have “political” social media pages. City Departments may be reached via phone or email. Citizens still have the right to address the council publicly during meetings. There are numbers for various departments that residents can call for information regarding things such as why their trash wasn’t picked up on a particular day, for example.
Rodriguez welcomes the phone calls and emails for information.
“Since I’ve been in this position. I’ve been trying to say, ‘Hey, if you have questions, just call us. If you have questions, just email us.’ And I’ve only talked to one person that I’ve actually went back and forth with in Facebook before, and I have to tell you, it was a really pleasant conversation,” Rodriguez said.
“Social media can be a wonderful thing. Is it the best thing for city governments to interact with our citizens when we’re sharing factual information? It’s maybe not the best resource,” Keller said. “There was a perception that whatever comments or opinions are dropped on that page that we’re tallying that all up at the end of the week and sending it as an information document to officials. No, we don’t.”
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