Keller admin, City Council still at odds over employee social media policy

The Albuquerque City Council rejected the notion on Monday that a social media policy from Mayor Tim Keller’s administration fits the scope of what the council had previously asked for. 

The long-standing battle between the administration and the council over how city employees should use official social media accounts started in 2023, when the council called out the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) for controversial social media posts. 

Last year, the council criticized Keller’s office again for letting APD make similar posts and passed a bill in November asking the city to revisit its social media policy. The bill directed the administration to create a policy for city employees that met certain guidelines and submit it within 30 days of the council’s approval.

While the administration met the deadline and added the policy to the city’s transparency website, the policy submitted has not been updated since 2022. 

Councilor Renée Grout, who sponsored the bill, asked the mayor’s office Monday night who reviewed the policy based on the measure’s guidelines. 

“Several staff members within the mayor’s office, including myself, made the review based upon that…we did not make changes at this time,” Chief Administrative Officer Samantha Sengel said. 

Grout told Sengel that the bill directed that personal attacks be prohibited in social media posts and asked if the policy has similar guidelines. Sengel said that the administration believes “that professional communication requires there to not be personal attacks.” 

Grout continued to press Sengel and asked who reviews posts to ensure they align with the policy and if the administration believes that it was reviewed “in good faith.” 

“Social media posts are monitored and reviewed by our communication staff,” Sengel said. “As well as within each department, [public information officers] report to a director or deputy director, depending on each department, and they are supervised and reviewed by those individuals, including their posts…We do believe that we work within the bounds of that policy, and that the policy ensures that we are supervising our staff appropriately and making sure that we have a place to discuss any issues with them.”

During the Finance and Government Operations Committee meeting on Jan. 13, councilors asked the council services staff to conduct an analysis comparing the 2022 policy and Grout’s bill, which Councilor Nichole Rogers also requested during Monday’s meeting. 

The comparison showed that the policy was missing multiple components listed in Grout’s bill, including the following: 

• “No explicit prohibition on personal attacks, arguing with members of the public or otherwise posting in a manner that is disrespectful or could erode public trust in the city;”
• “No specific requirement for monitoring a review of the actual content of city accounts for compliance with the policy;”
• “The 2022 policy does not include strategies for rebuilding trust or issuing apologies;”
• “It does not mention revoking social media access as a restorative action for violations of the policy;”
• “It does not set a social media policy review or schedule for future reviews.”

“What we received in this [policy] does not meet the requirements of what we asked for,” Rogers said before the council voted down the policy.

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