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<br />Communications Policy for Employees <br /> <br />The city strives to provide the public accurate and timely information, communicated in a professional <br />manner, and in accordance with the laws regarding public information, records retention, and data practices. <br />The intent is to ensure all communications accurately reflect the facts of a matter and the City Council’s <br />position or goals on a matter. <br /> <br />This policy provides guidelines for all external communications from the city using various mediums <br />including: <br /> <br /> Printed materials such as newsletters, articles, and brochures. <br /> Electronic materials such as email, postings to websites, or social media sites. <br /> Media relations such as requests for interviews, news releases, and media inquiries. <br /> <br />The city also recognizes that employees may sometimes comment on city matters outside of their official <br />roles as an employee of the city. Therefore, this policy provides guidelines for employees when <br />communicating as a private citizen on matters pertaining to city business. <br /> <br /> <br />Guidelines for Official City Communications <br /> <br />Handling General Requests <br /> <br />All staff is responsible for communicating routine information to the public in relation to their specific job <br />duties. Requests for private data or information outside the scope of an individual’s job duties should be <br />routed to the appropriate department head or to the data practices authority. <br /> <br />Handling Media Requests <br /> <br />With the exception of routine events and basic information that is readily available to the public, all requests <br />for interviews or information from the media are to be routed through the City Administrator or his/her <br />designee. Media requests include anything intended to be published or viewable to others such as via <br />television, radio, newspapers, newsletters, and websites. <br /> <br />Responding to Media Requests <br /> <br />If the request is regarding information about city personnel it is to be directed to the Human Resources <br />Director. Other requests such as potential litigation, controversial issues, an opinion on a city matter, or if <br />you are unsure if it is a “routine” question, forward to the City Administrator. <br /> <br />An appropriate response would be, “I’m sorry, I don’t have the full information regarding that issue. Let me <br />take some basic information and submit your request to the appropriate person who will get back to you as <br />soon as he/she can.” <br /> <br />Ask the media representative for the following: <br />1. Name and organization they are representing <br />2. Questions <br /> <br /> <br />2 <br />