Sheriff will end commenting, but county sites will go mostly unmonitored

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Howard County’s social media pages will go unmonitored, until they are. That was the statement made by the Howard County Board of Commissioners at its Jan. 5 meeting. The commissioners have decided not to limit commenting on county social media accounts after facing pushback from citizens.

But be warned: comments that are too offensive will be removed. Probably.

The reversal of the commissioners’ position came after they floated the idea of shutting off public comment at their Dec. 15 meeting. Howard County Commissioner Jeff Lipinski first broached the subject, expressing his opposition.

“I’d like to state that it was brought up at the last meeting about social media policy, and I think at this time, I would be in favor of the county not doing the policy,” said Lipinski.

The commissioner instead suggested that Howard County Attorney Alan Wilson meet with the county’s Information Technology department to develop a disclaimer to be posted on the county’s social media site, stating that any comments found to be too offensive will be removed.

Commissioner Brad Bray agreed with Lipinski’s position, as did Commissioner Jack Dodd.

“I heard from many people about this policy, and you know, people are not in favor,” said Dodd. “But here’s what people have to understand. We do not monitor those comments. There could be some offensive remarks.

“We will reserve the right to remove offensive remarks because the general public does not need to see offensive remarks. But we do not want to inhibit free speech.”

After the commissioners made their position known, Howard County Sheriff Jerry Asher addressed the board, expressing his intent to end public comment on the sheriff department’s social media accounts. And he gave graphic evidence to support his decision.

“Here was my Thanksgiving: ‘I really do hope that all the pieces of lazy s*** deputies really have a horrible Thanksgiving,’” said Asher, reading a comment that had been posted by a citizen. “I don’t think any of that should be on Facebook, as far as that goes.

“Then it says, ‘Man, f*** the 12, f*** the cops, f*** the cops. F*** the pigs.’ That’s the kind of stuff that we get; not always, thank goodness, but that’s what we get, so we’re just going to shut our comments off for that.”

Asher suggested that people who want to comment on posts from the sheriff’s department can share them to other pages and make their comments there.

“Take it to their Facebook and write anything they want to,” said Asher. “I just don’t think we need to be the platform for them to do that.”

Government agencies shutting off comments on their social media platforms is not unprecedented, and it is totally legal. Court rulings as high as the U.S. Supreme Court have held that government must allow access to information posted on its social media pages, but it does not have a requirement to allow any comment.

Locally, the Kokomo Police Department rarely allows public comment on its posts, though the Kokomo City Hall Facebook page has no such restrictions.

Dodd reiterated the county’s position, making it distinct from the sheriff’s decision and asking citizens to use decorum when commenting.

“I’m sorry we don’t have the time to get on there and monitor, just like the Sheriff Department doesn’t have time to monitor theirs,” said Dodd. “So, we will remove (offensive comments) when we see it. I’m asking the public is use it for what it’s meant to be, not to post crap like that.

“Yes, I understand free speech. Free speech is being able to post what you want. Sometimes they post crap like that. I get it, but please don’t use it for that.”

In other action, the commissioners reorganized, re-electing Jack Dodd as president and Brad Bray as vice president of the board. They then announced that Michelle Ege has been selected as administrator of the Robert J. Kinsey Youth Center.

The commissioners also approved a pair of property subdivisions and a rezoning, as brought to them by the Howard County Planning Commission, and they heard from Lindsay Hammond, the Northeast Community Liaison for the Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA), which provides technical assistance to communities seeking to grow economically.

OCRA also manages the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program, which provides grant dollars to cities and counties in Indiana to improve infrastructure, enhance public facilities, preserve historic sites, address neighborhood blight, and revitalize communities.

Annually, the City of Kokomo utilizes CDBG funding to help homeowners with exterior home improvements and neighborhood blight removal. It also maintains a revolving loan fund program for technology companies and local industry, provides “micro-enterprise” assistance through a revolving loan fund, and awards grants to local nonprofit agencies.

If Howard County makes use of CDBG funds or maintains a five-year plan for such funding, evidence of such a program is not readily available. Hammond asked if there were any questions she could answer, and the commissioners thanked her for her time without further comment.