Digital Technology Policy

The City of Mineola (City) shall have the right, at its sole discretion, to modify, add or remove any terms or conditions of this policy without notice or liability to user. Any changes to this policy shall be effective immediately following the posting of such changes on websites.

Uses and Performance

City of Mineola, TX websites are for informational purposes only and are not intended to provide specific commercial, financial, or legal advice. They are provided to user solely for user’s own personal, non-commercial use, public display or performance or any other uses by user in any form or manner whatsoever. The City has used its best efforts to obtain the most accurate and timely information available.  Accordingly, City does not guarantee the accuracy, timeliness, reliability or completeness of any of the information contained on, downloaded or accessed from the websites.

The performance of websites and all information contained on, downloaded or accessed from the websites are provided to user on an "as is" basis. The City shall not be responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer on-line systems, servers, Internet access providers, computer equipment, software, or any combination thereof including any injury or damage to user’s or any other person's computer as a result of using the websites.

The City reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to modify, disable access to or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, any part or all of the websites or any information contained thereon without liability or notice to user.

Use at Own Risk

As a visitor to City website, user acknowledges and agrees that any reliance on or use by user of any information available on this website shall be entirely at user’s own risk. In no event shall the City nor any of its data providers be liable for any direct, indirect, consequential or exemplary damages arising from the use or the performance of the websites, even if the City or such provider has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

Digital Transmission of Data or Information

The transmission of data or information (including communications by e-mail) over the Internet or other publicly accessible networks is not secure, and is subject to possible loss, interception or alteration while in transit. Accordingly, City does not assume any liability for any damage user may experience or costs user may incur as a result of any transmissions over the Internet or other publicly accessible networks, such as transmissions involving the exchange of e-mail with City (including those which may contain user’s personal information). While City shall take reasonable efforts to safeguard the privacy of the information user provides City and treat such information in accordance with City’s Privacy Policy, in no event will the information provided by user to City be deemed to be confidential, create any fiduciary obligations to user on City’s part, or result in any liability to user on City’s part in the event that such information is inadvertently released by City or accessed by third parties without City’s consent. Communications made through E-mail and messaging systems shall in no way be deemed to constitute legal notice to the City or any of its agencies, officers, employees, agents, or representatives, with respect to any existing or potential claim or cause of action against the City or any of its agencies, officers, employees, agents, or representatives, where notice to the City is required by any federal, state or local laws, rules or regulations.

Links to Other Websites

Links or pointers to other websites and references to products and services offered by third parties are provided to user for convenience only and do not constitute an endorsement or approval by City of (i) the organizations that operate such websites; (ii) the content, privacy policies or other terms of use on such websites; or (iii) such third party products and services. As City has no control or responsibility over websites or content maintained by other organizations, or for products and services offered by third parties, City does not assume any liability for user use of any of the foregoing, which user acknowledges and agrees shall be at user’s own risk.

Upon leaving the City of Mineola websites and linking to an external site, the policies governing the City of Mineola websites no longer apply and users are subject to the external site's policies. Questions and concerns regarding the information or services provided by a linked site must be directed to the entity or individual responsible for that site, rather than to the City of Mineola.

Collection and Use of Information

The City of Mineola does not sell or rent personally identifiable information. Please be aware that when user provides information to any government entity, however, that information may be subject to the Texas Public Information Act and applicable federal legislation. Information about the Texas Public Information Act is available from the Office of the Attorney General.  Additionally, although the City of Mineola does not sell or rent personally identifiable information, certain state agencies or local governments whose sites are accessible through this website may sell personally identifiable information.

No Implied Affiliation or Endorsement

The City Mineola does not authorize the use of either its logos or pictures on any other websites. When hyperlinking to the City of Mineola websites, users must do so in a manner that does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by the City for user’s enterprise or website.

Compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act

The City is committed to making its information and communication technologies accessible to individuals with disabilities by meeting or exceeding the requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. To meet this commitment, City web pages have been designed to meet or exceed the Section 508 standards and to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Reasonable accommodations, including equal access to communications, will be provided upon request. Requests for reasonable accommodations related to equal access to communications should be directed to the City of Mineola at (903) 569-6183.

This policy outlines the protocol and procedures for the use of social media to publicize official city services and events.  In addition, this policy provides guidance to the employees of the City of Mineola concerning their use of social media as well as their responsibilities with regard to social media and the use of city resources.

Definitions

Social Media: For the purposes of this policy, social media shall mean official city websites as well as all forms of online community activities such as online social networks (e.g., Facebook), professional networking sites (e.g., LinkedIn), message boards (e.g., Twitter), video sharing (e.g., YouTube), blogs, wikis, chat rooms and online forums.

Policies and Procedures

Official City of Mineola Social Media Sites

Official social media sites/pages representing the city will be the property of the City of Mineola. Accounts must be registered through the Marketing Department. If approved by the Marketing Department, the Marketing Department will secure approval from the City Manager or designee before establishing the account.

A.  The Marketing Department will be responsible for the oversight of the city’s social media formats to include:

• Serving as liaison with contracted website developers, designers and hosting companies, and related services;

• Authorizing all social media accounts;

• Maintaining a list of social media domains as well as usernames and passwords;

• Monitoring social media activity to verify that content is compliant with the city’s goals, objectives and ethical conduct policy;

• Access to all administrative rights and privileges of all social media domains and accounts belonging to the City of Mineola.

B.  In order to be acceptable, the content of the social media must contain:

• Information about city events, activities or issues tied to something funded, operated, managed, etc. by the city;

• Positive aspects of the City of Mineola; or

• Reflect the goals and purpose of the account (e.g., Historic Downtown Mineola posting about shops in the Historic Downtown District offering special deals; Historical Museum posting about displays or activities).

C.  Postings to City of Mineola social media sites must be respectful and shall NOT contain any of the following:

• Comments that are not typically related to the particular posting being commented upon;

• Profane language or content;

• Content that promotes, fosters, or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, gender, marital status, national origin, physical or mental disability, as well as any other category protected by federal, state, or local laws;

• Sexual content or links to sexual content;

• Conduct or encouragement of illegal activity;

• Information that may tend to compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems;

• Content that violates a legal ownership interest of any other party including the disclosure of private of confidential information;

• Information about actual or potential claims and litigation involving the city;

• The intellectual property of others, without written permission; or

• Photographs of employees or members of the public, without written permission or publicly posted notice given.

D.  The City of Mineola website will remain the official location for content regarding city business, services and events.  When possible, links from social media sites will be used to direct users back to the city’s website for more information.

E.  Any request for a social media site from a department or employee must be approved by the Marketing Department.  If approved by the Marketing Department, the Marketing Department will secure approval from the City Manager or designee before establishing the account.  Requests should include:

Purpose of the site, goals desired to be accomplished, and benchmarks to track progress.
How often the site will need to be updated; and Individuals that have authority to change content of the social media site.

F.  Only designated employees will have authority to change content of the social media site. The authorized user names and passwords will be kept by the marketing department and city secretary.

G.  Individual departments that the posted information is related to are responsible for providing a site administrator with an official response to any inquiries related to the posted information.

H.  Communications through social media is PUBLIC RECORD.  Posts by city departments, employees and any outside feedback (comments) will be part of the PUBLIC RECORDS for the city.  The Marketing Department, working with the city’s Public Information Officer, will be responsible for establishing guidelines for maintaining and storing copies of the content posted in order to comply with the TEXAS PUBLIC INFORMATION ACT.

I.  Content posted by outside contributors and not officially posted by the City of Mineola do not constitute any endorsement or representation on the part of the City of Mineola.  Any comments or content posted that are deemed inappropriate will be deleted.  The city also reserves the right to block from accessing the city’s social media sites any users that violate these guidelines.

J. If a question arises regarding the use or posting of confidential information on a social media site, the matter shall be referred to the City Attorney for review.  The information shall not be posted, or if already posted will be removed immediately until an opinion is rendered by the City Attorney.  The City Manager or designee reserves the right to restrict or remove any information on the social media site that he/she does not believe serves in the best interest of the city or puts city’s reputation in question..

K.  Each official City of Mineola social media page will include a disclaimer that contains wording similar to:

“The City of Mineola maintains this social media site/page to provide information and promote City of Mineola programs, services, policies and objectives.  It is the city’s goal to keep the most current and accurate information available to the public on this site, however, varying events occur that could affect the timeliness of the information and the accuracy of the content.  Comments posted on this site by “friends”, “fans”, or “followers” will be monitored and any posting or comments that are disrespectful, offensive, dishonest, or do not accurately reflect the views, values or objectives of the City of Mineola will be deleted without notice.  This site/page many contain links to other Internet sites and resources as a convenience to the viewer.  Linked sites/pages are not under the control of, nor maintained by, the City of Mineola and the City of Mineola is not responsible for the content of these sites.  In addition, the inclusion of a linked site/page does not constitute an endorsement or promotion by the City of Mineola.”

Use of Social Media at Work

A.  Work-related social media access by employees while on duty utilizing city property will be subject to the rules and guidelines set forth by the City of Mineola and Marketing Department.

B.  Personal use of social media by employees while on duty utilizing city property will be subject to the rules and guidelines set forth in City of Mineola Employee Handbook per HR Department.

C.  Media inquiries generated on social media sites should follow the protocols generally accepted by the city regarding media inquiries and should be forwarded to City Manager.

D.  The city reserves the right to monitor employees use of social media sites accessed during work hours on city equipment. Users should have no expectation of privacy or confidentiality when using these resources that have been provided by the city.

E. Employees may not ignore copyright laws, cite or reference sources inaccurately.  Plagiarism is prohibited.

F.  All information published on social media sites must comply with city’s privacy and/or data policies.  This includes comments, pictures, videos, audio or any other multimedia posted on social networking sites, blogs, and forums.

G. Employees are discouraged from discussing information about city employees, citizens, vendors, issues, business or legal matters without expressed consent to do so.

H.  All city-related communication through social media outlets should remain professional in nature.  Incomplete, inaccurate, inappropriate, threatening, demeaning, harassing or poorly worded postings may be harmful to other employees, damage employee relationships, create hostile working environments, violate city policies or harm the city’s reputation. Such wording will be removed by the Marketing Department staff at their discretion.  Employees bear full responsibility for the material they post on social media sites. Inappropriate usage of social media can be grounds for disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment.

The City of Mineola reserves the right to remove content that is deemed in violation of this policy or any applicable law.  Violations of this policy may result in immediate revocation of any or all electronic communications access and user privileges and may be grounds for disciplinary action up to and including termination.  Certain violations could result in civil or criminal liabilities for the user.

Use of Social Media at Home

While the city encourages its employees to enjoy and make good use of their off-duty time, certain activities on the part of employees may become a concern if they have the effect of impairing the work of any employee; harassing, demeaning, or creating a hostile work environment for any employee; disrupting the smooth and orderly flow of work within the office; or harming the goodwill and reputation of the city among its citizens or in the community at large.  In the area of social media, employees may use such media outside work as long as such use does not produce the adverse consequences noted above.  For this reason, the city reminds its employees that the following guidelines apply in their use of social media, both on and off duty:

• Information that is published on personal online sites should never be attributed to the city and should not appear to be endorsed by or originated from the City of Mineola.

• Employees engaging on personal social media platforms should not use their City of Mineola email account or the city’s name, logos, pictures of the employee in a City of Mineola uniform, incorporate the city in their identity (e.g., username, “handle”, screen name or profile picture), nor should they speak as a representative of the city.

• Any person identified as an employee of the city on a publicly accessible site is expected to maintain a positive online image that is consistent with the city’s goals and objectives.

• Employees that choose to list their employment affiliation on public websites should regard all communication on that site as professional.

• Employees that contribute to a public site or blog and identify themselves as a City of Mineola employee as asked to provide a clear disclaimer that their views are not endorsed by the city and are their beliefs alone.

• Relationships with other City of Mineola employees established outside of work on social media sites may have an adverse effect on work relationships.  Employees should be mindful of this possibility.

• Posts should not disclose private or confidential information including posting photographs of fellow employees or citizens without their permission.