Port Orchard City Council unanimously approved a social media policy because some city departments are interested in creating Facebook or Twitter accounts.

The action was taken at the Sept. 10 meeting.

Under the social media policy, department heads will have to submit an approval form. Also, all comments and content posted on a site would be considered public record and subject to public disclosure and the state’s Public Record Act.

The city would not be responsible for transmissions users receive from external websites, according to the proposed policy.

City Clerk Brandy Rinearson said under council’s direction the original policy draft was revised to add there would be a one-way conversation and no discussion boards.

According to the policy, prior to posting information on social media sites, the social media representative must post the information to the city’s official website.

Councilman Jerry Childs asked if the police department puts out emergency postings (Twitter, etc.) are they going to have time to post to the city’s website?

“They should, otherwise they need to find a method to archive the data,” Rinearson said. “Because if there is a public record request, they need to be able to put it up off the website as it was stated.”

She said staff will set up a process if the departments want to use social media that would be easier to post to the website.

“Then they can just copy and paste to their social media account,” Rinearson added.

Councilman Fred Chang said Twitter messages can be archived within the application, but with Facebook may need a third party to archive messages.

“This social media policy will only be augmenting what is already on our website,” Chang said. “Once they put up a press release, they will be just Tweeting about it and directing them back to the (city) website.”

COLA raises approved

The council approved a pair of resolutions for a 1.4 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for non-union employees classified as FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) non-exempt and executive-exempt during the Sept. 10 meeting.

The pay rate will take effective Oct. 1.

The COLA increase is based on the All Urban Consumers Index for the Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton area from June 1012 to June 2013.

Under the FLSA, non-exempt employees are entitled to overtime pay and exempt employees are not. Most employees covered by the FLSA are nonexempt.

Councilman John Clauson said the resolution establishes the COLA negotiated with representatives for the non-union employees.

In 2009, the Finance Committee requested that wage-pay rates be addresses on a yearly basis for non-union employees.

Deb Howard, Human Resource Coordinator, reported the city will have an increase in cost during the next fiscal year that is reflected in the 2014 budget.

Cartwright sworn in

Jeffrey Cartwright was sworn in as the newest member to the council.

Cartwright was selected from a group of 10 people who applied for the council seat left vacant by Jim Colebank in July.

Mayor Tim Matthes welcomed Cartwright to the council and presented him with a pin.

“I would like to thank the full council for their support,” Cartwright said. “Having done recruitment myself, I know how tiring and how much hard work you had to put in.”

Police chaplain announced

Police Chief Geoffrey announced that Gail Porter is volunteering as a chaplain for the police department.

“She’s going to be great for our department and has also integrated with a lot of our officers,” Marti said. “We are looking for different things we can use her for other than just the chaplaincy part.”

Porter, who was an active-duty chaplain in the U.S. Army, attended a week of training at the nationally recognized Police and Fire Chaplin’s Training Academy in Burien.

“I’m looking forward to service with the police department,” Porter said.