Marshall County adopts social media policy; IT staff praised for cyber‑compliance work

Marshall County commissioners on Jan. 14 approved a county social media policy that narrows official use of platforms to informational posts, livestreams and public alerts and identifies specific staff authorized to manage county accounts.

IT staff described the policy as an informational tool only, not a moderated comment forum. The draft says the county will not delete or extensively moderate public comments but will turn off comments where appropriate and sets rules for who may post on official pages. The chair said two people will be authorized to post for the commission (identified in discussion as Dylan and Rhonda), and departments are encouraged to maintain simple SOPs for their own pages.

During the same discussion the chair publicly thanked Dylan and the IT team for work resolving cyber‑compliance and insurance issues after the county identified gaps in its systems. Commissioners approved the social media policy as presented.

The policy was approved on the record; staff said they will distribute copies to departments and that the county will update standard operating procedures for department pages.