Social media and the wild, wild west

Social media and the use of technology have become so commonplace in our lives, it’s easy to forget that it’s a wild, wild west landscape out there.

Transparency is a top priority for government, and social media presents lots of options for communicating with the public about government operations and activities. At the recent Annual Meeting, one of the keynote speakers talked about how government can use technology to keep residents engaged and informed.

But government has a particular challenge in dealing with technology and social media - both from the perspective of communicating information out and responding to posts by others. This National League of Cities whitepaper outlines many of these challenges.

The human side of social media and technology use is where local leaders may find the biggest challenge. Digital interactions have become such an ingrained part of our lives, but the line between personal and professional use of technology is continuing to blur. This trend will certainly continue.

That’s where government social media and technology use policies come in. Just as government entities have policies related to workplace behavior like work hours and dress, they should also adopt policies related to technology use. This could cover work-issued and personal devices as well as behavior expectations related to the use of social media.

Not only is it important to create a strategy for social media use, but it’s also important to have guidelines in place so employees have clear expectations about what is and isn’t acceptable behavior when using social media and technology.

Social media and technology policies can include a variety of issues. This Uptown article outlines questions to consider when formulating a policy. The Municipal Association's technology use policy for its staff can be a good example to work from. Also take a look at resources on HR policies regarding technology use, general social media guidelines and law enforcement policies.

Hometown Economic Development Grants can fuel local projects

One of the most popular clicks on the Association's website during the Annual Meeting was the Hometown Economic Development Grant program. Mayor Bill Young, the Association's president, rolled out the program in the meeting's opening session. Every city got an application packet by mail in early July, and there's an easy online application. 

"These grants will help cities carry out economic development projects that will make a positive impact on the quality of life in their communities, while also promoting and recognizing innovation in economic development practices," Mayor Young told the crowd assembled at the Annual Meeting. 

Cities and towns can apply for grants up to $25,000 to fund economic development projects that will produce measurable results, can be maintained over time by the city or town, and can serve as examples for other municipalities. This July Uptown article has all the details on the grant criteria. 

Examples of eligible activities for the grant include professional services related to producing master plans or conducting analysis for marketing, branding or promoting cities and towns and their local businesses; infrastructure development; and the creation of programs or assets for public use in conjunction with private or nonprofit organizations.

The application process, with a deadline of September 30, involves a match from the city. 

Email Scott Slatton or call him at 803.933.1208 for more information.

Saturday at the Annual Meeting: awards, games and grants

Saturday kicked off with the annual award breakfast recognizing nine cities and seven Main Street SC programs.

“This is a celebration of hometown success stories from around the state,” said Walterboro Mayor Bill Young, president of the Municipal Association. “The awards not only celebrate the positive things in our hometowns but also let us share with each other how we are addressing the issues that face our hometowns.”

Read more about the Achievement Award winners and the Main Award Inspiration Award winners. Videos from the awards will be online next week.

Today’s breakout sessions featured trends in recreation, best practices in recruiting police officers and an update on the Freedom of Information Act.

Pokemon Go…a trend?
Ken Ayoub, the Town of Mount Pleasant’s recreation director, isn’t quite ready to starting planning around Pokemon Go, a new craze described on its website as a "location-based augmented reality mobile game."

Ken Ayoub

“Who’s playing Pokemon Go? Is that a trend or is that a flash in the pan?” It’s too early to tell, Ken told attendees at a session that ended with a series of questions and answers from the audience.

Meanwhile, Ken, who has a 40-year career in recreation, has plenty of other established trends on his radar. He listed a few of these trends in the session:

•    Non-traditional sports like pickleball, quidditch and frisbee golf
•    Nonprofits’ desire to use city facilities
•    The use of criminal background checks intended to protect children and senior citizens
•    “Mobile rec,” the idea of driving equipment into communities via a city van

The April Uptown features several articles that focus on the trends Ken talked about.

Keep it open
Danny Crowe and Tiger Wells led a session on the Freedom of Information Act and talked about recent legislative and legal changes.

Tiger reiterated to the group the importance of stating on an agenda if there is a possibility council may take a vote on an issue discussed in executive session. This change is a result of the ruling in Brock v. Town of Mount Pleasant. This recent blog post has more information on this case and other FOIA issues.  

Danny Crowe and Tiger Wells

Danny covered several issues related to email and text messages. He noted that text messages should be treated the same as email or a paper document, despite the fact that many people now consider texts to be practically the same as a spoken conversation.

Danny also reminded officials that if they are having an email exchange on a personal device and official business is being discussed, they should copy their official email account so the city has a record of it. “Consider anything electronic like you would a letter,” Danny said.

Recruiting right
Everybody knows that finding and keeping good law enforcement officers is a constant challenge for police departments.

Attorney and former police officer Jack Ryan offered attendees ways to solve that vexing problem and how to prevent bad hiring decisions.

Jack challenged attendees to ask themselves what kind of police officers they want in their departments. After all, he said, different communities may need different types of individuals patrolling their streets.

“Who you decide to recruit in Clemson may be someone totally different from who you decide to recruit in Myrtle Beach,” said Jack.

Among his other insights:

•    No fibbers. “Dishonesty in somebody’s background? Don’t hire them,” said Jack. The reason, he said, is that the officer’s record will have to be disclosed during prosecutions.
•    How fit is fit enough? Consider what kind of physical standards are truly necessary for the job and the community to be policed. “I’m not saying we should lack fitness standards,” he said. “But we’ve got to look and see what’s important to us.”
•    Recruit in unconventional places, such as churches and basketball courts.
•    Explore candidates who are leaving other professions and looking for a new start such as nurses, flight attendants and others who have people skills.
•    Find. The. Money. “We need to find the money,” said Jack. “Not a lot of money—just a little more money—because people are not going to stay in this business if they can’t feed their family.”

This June Uptown article has some additional perspectives on recruiting police officers.

Economic development grants
The Association’s Scott Slatton seemed to be a really popular guy all day today answering questions at the Resource Hub about the new Hometown Economic Development Grants. Applications are due September 30.

Day Two at the Annual Meeting - fun, love and generational trends

Downtown Charleston’s Riviera Theatre was the venue for today’s opening general session. Charleston Mayor John Tecklenberg greeted the 600+ officials welcoming them to the Holy City and reflecting on the legacy of his predecessor, Mayor Riley.

Mayor Tecklenburg offered some thoughts about last year’s mass shooting at the Mother Emanuel AME church and called on local officials to recognize “an obligation to love and to share that love with our citizens.”

Some have called the aftermath of the shooting an opportunity to make positive changes. “It’s not an opportunity. It’s a responsibility,” Mayor Tecklenberg said. “It’s an obligation on our part to do something to improve our communities, our cities, our towns.”

The morning’s opening general session agenda also recognized the new graduates of the Municipal Elected Officials Institute of Government and included the election of officers and board members.

Two keynote speakers pooled their perspectives on bridging the gap between generations.

Keep it short
Curt Steinhorst, an expert on embracing generational trends and differences, said city and towns must adapt to the ways millennials are communicating. 

There are lots of reason for this. For starters, said the president and founder of Promentum Group, older residents are beginning to use technology in the same ways as younger folks. In other words, if you ignore the younger generation today, you will lose them as they grow older.

Curt gave a few tips:
•    Make city processes faster and easier. For instance, to improve parking, offer an app to pay to park. If the parking-payment system seems intimidating, teach users how to pay with a quick YouTube video.
•    Keep communications short. Younger residents might pay most attention to an email with a subject line that they perceive as relevant to them.
•    Use bulleted lists. Don’t over communicate.
•    Remember a telephone call is often perceived as a rude interruption by a millennial.

'Where is the fun?'
After Curt’s lively and information-packed talk came self-described “city love guy” Peter Kageyama. The community development specialist and author said cities are “obsessed with potholes”—a problem that certainly must be addressed—but city leaders should also ask, “Where is the fun?”

Peter Kagemaya

Peter pointed to several cities around the country that are doing little things to bring generations together. He argued that millennials and seniors often want the same benefits from cities, just at different times of day. Among his examples:

•    In East Lansing, Michigan, officials turned an old school into senior housing. The location of the building placed older residents in the same neighborhood as college students, which encouraged the two age groups interact.
•    At Falls Park in Greenville, SC, residents now use the space—formerly a bridge—for weddings, yoga classes and other activities, turning the park into “a social capital generator.”
•    Dog parks are a great way to bring generations together.

The delegates' lunch hosted Pulitzer prize-winner—and Camden native—Kathleen Parker, who brought her perspective to the presidential race.

Kathleen Parker

Look for more detail on the Annual Meeting in the August/September issue of Uptown.

Annual Meeting off to a great start

Day One of the 2016 Annual Meeting kicked off this morning with almost 300 municipal officials participating in four preconference sessions. 

Learning from North Charleston

It was a morning of “re’s”—repurpose, revitalize and redevelop. Nearly 100 people climbed into buses Thursday morning to explore North Charleston’s community development transformation.

Ryan Johnson, economic development and public relations official for the City of North Charleston, addresses attendees at the North Charleston Riverfront Park, adjacent to homes once occupied by Naval officers.

The three-hour tour revealed how North Charleston has given new purpose to old sites, be it an asbestos spinning mill, World War II housing or the old Navy officers’ housing campus.

“We are an industrial hub,” Mayor Keith Summey said, during a breakfast at the city’s coliseum. At any time during the day there could be 300,000 people in the city, either shopping, working or driving through, he said.

“Government has changed dramatically at the municipal level. We used to depend basically on property tax. We don’t do that anymore,” he said. “Hotel/motel accommodation fees, food and beverage taxes, business licenses, different forms of revenue that helps us become the type of city we need to be to enhance the quality of life for all of our people.”

One of the ways the 44-year-old city has approached revitalization was donating land to the Medical University of South Carolina to entice it to build a children’s outpatient center. 

The city also used leftover tax-increment finance district money from its Centre Pointe area to build a new city hall and a Fire Museum. On a smaller scale, the city purchased the former Shipwatch retail site with the intention of opening a grocery store in a food desert.

Afternoon breakout sessions got people thinking and creative juices flowing. 

These aren't the same old economic development practices 

Hartsville, Anderson and Greenwood showcased several successful creative approaches that have spurred economic growth in their downtowns.

Greenwood has reprioritized its marketing budget to focus more on using social media with professionally produced videos. "We took part of our marketing dollars from our downtown tax district and redirected it to video production," explained Greenwood City Manager Charlie Barrineau.

Anderson launched a “shark tank”-type grant program to support emerging entrepreneurs. The businesses that won are part of the city's focus on bringing certain types of businesses downtown. Read more about Anderson's grant program in this recent Uptown article that also appears in the summer Cities Mean Business magazine.

Suzy Moyd, Hartsville's downtown manager, explained how long-time businesses and new companies are both populating the downtown district. "We have four long-time businesses that just wouldn't give up on downtown," Suzy said.

Hartsville's Mantissa Executive Suites and Spa

She also showcased one of Hartsville's signature revitalization projects, the Mantissa Executive Suites and Spa. This project will be recognized on Saturday with a Main Street SC Inspiration Award. 

When water and sewer systems produce a surplus 

The Supreme Court’s decision in Azar v. City of Columbia means city officials would be wise to spell out the details of a utility fund transfer—exactly what they’re doing and how they’re justifying it. Municipal attorneys Eric Shytle, Lawrence Flynn, III and Danny Crowe offered constructive ways to gird against a legal challenge similar to the one leveled against the City of Columbia.

In short: Talk to city engineers. Consult the public works department. Get the rationale for a utility fund transfer laid out with the numbers and reasoning to back it up. Ideally, the decision-making process can be presented in court, if necessary.

“These ideas have been put down in writing in a policy, a resolution or an ordinance, the purpose has been explained, the reasons for that action have been explained, and that goes a long way,” Danny said. “Columbia did not have the benefit of knowing it was going to have to do that, have an explanation available. … You need to ask yourself, ‘Well, could a court looking at our utility fund and our transfers say the same thing, that we were making transfers without documenting and explaining why?’”

This July Uptown article gives some more background on this case.

 

Sneak peek at the 2016 Annual Meeting

The countdown is on for the 2016 Annual Meeting that starts Thursday, July 14, in Charleston. Last minute preparations are taking place at the Association's office this week. 

Envelopes with name badges and event tickets for more than 800 registrants have been checked and double checked. Today, 40+ staff members gathered to stuff registration packets. Many hands make light work - it only took 18 minutes to stuff more than 800 folders!

The full agenda, jam-packed with more than 40 sessions and events, is online and also available through the meeting app.

Downloading the app in advance gives meeting registrants the chance to create a personalized schedule, read speaker bios, look at the attendee list, and create a profile for commenting and social media interaction. 

This May Uptown article gives background on two nationally-known speakers who headline the opening general session on Friday morning. They will discuss generational trends in communication and technology.

Kathleen Parker

Nine 15-minute tech talks scheduled throughout the Annual Meeting give elected officials a quick glance at timely IT topics such as VOIP phone systems, network security and body-worn cameras, while the Friday delegates’ lunch features nationally-known newspaper columnist, Kathleen Parker. She will share her witty, and sometimes provocative, perspective on the 2016 presidential election.

The Association will roll out its new economic development grant program at the opening general session on July 15. All cities have received a copy of the application packet by mail. Additional information and a link to the online application are in the July Uptown.

Downtown Anderson's start-up challenge

Recent Uptown articles give background on several breakout session topics, including land-use liability, local governments’ role in managing the zika virus and the opioid abuse epidemic, parks and recreation trends, creative ideas for downtown development, and legal and legislative updates.

Twitter users can keep up with meeting activities by following the Association @muniassnsc and using the hashtag #mascam16.  

Charleston, here we come!

FOIA and ethics filings topics at recent meetings

Last week, Association staff spoke at two conferences about issues related to the Freedom of Information Act and ethics reporting. Here’s a recap of what they discussed … 

At the SC Association of Municipal Power Systems meeting, leaders of the state’s 21 municipal electric utilities got a briefing from the Association’s Deputy Executive Director Eric Budds on several Freedom of Information Act issues. When it comes to FOIA, utility boards and commissions of public works fall under the same rules as municipal councils and other bodies appointed by council.

First, Eric briefed the group on the recent Supreme Court ruling in Brock vs. Town of Mount Pleasant. This ruling states that a public body, after leaving executive session, may only take action on a matter discussed during the closed session if the meeting agenda indicates the possibility of that action.

Read this April blog post or listen to this podcast to get details on this case and sample language that can be included on an agenda to note the possibility of action resulting from an executive session. 

Second, Eric reminded the meeting attendees about two FOIA issues from 2015 related to agendas and executive session. The General Assembly passed legislation last year that outlines the process elected bodies must use to amend an agenda after a meeting has started. This June 2015 blog post explains more.

Also, a 2015 Supreme Court case clarified language that must be used on an agenda to describe “contractual matters” to be discussed in an executive session. Get more detail in this June 2015 blog post.

At the City/County Management Association meeting, more than 100 city and county managers got a briefing from Tiger Wells, the Association’s government affairs liaison, about changes in filing ethics reports.

Tiger explained the impact of H.3186 that passed in May. It requires any official who already files a Statement of Economic Interest to now report the source and type of income they receive. This also includes disclosure of income that immediate family members receive. 

Take a look at this flow chart to get a quick summary of these new requirements.