City Administrator Wirt Responds to Recent Social Media Controversy
KSIS conducted a phone interview with Sedalia City Administrator Matthew Wirt on Thursday morning to explain the situation with a social media controversy that erupted over the weekend.
“On Saturday, an employee mistakenly used the City’s facebook account to comment on another post. That employee removed those comments when they realized that they had done that. I was contacted by staff and the employee does not work for the City anymore,” Wirt said, adding that he could not name the employee.
“I have put in place (a procedure) where our media release goes through administration for a level of review,” Wirt said. “We have policies in place that prevent this. Unfortunately, like anything, humans make mistakes and they do things that aren’t good. But I can assure folks that we have taken care of that.”
Wirt went on to say that “as for the position, I don’t know in the future how we will replace that. We’ve done a lot of work with our budget this year, and revenues are down, so there’s a possibility that with some of the other positions that are open, we might combine it. I’m not sure yet, we really haven’t gotten that far.”
“But it’s important to note to folks that these comments were not authorized by the City or anyone at the City. And we don’t share that viewpoint. Just know that it is very important to us that any of our posts or any comments that would be made are always professional, and that is our absolute intent,” Wirt told KSIS.
“Right now with some of the manpower shortages, we don’t have comments on our facebook account, as we just don’t have the ability to monitor them and make sure they remain respectful,” the City Administrator said.
“We will still continue to post information for the community that they can have ... for example, we will continue to post many of the things we did in the past to share our employees in the spotlight and things they are doing, but also the public service announcements that people might need to know,” Wirt noted, citing as example the schedule for trash collection on the week of Good Friday.
“Those are some of the things that folks will still see as we’re moving forward,” Wirt said, adding that either he or the mayor can read over posts before they are published to make sure they are appropriate.
“We really do have a good group of people that work for the City, and I’m proud of them,” Wirt told KSIS. “This isn’t a representation of our staff or our group. It’s the exception, not the rule. It’s really important to note how good a people we have working for the City, and their intention to make this a better place, and it’s unfortunate that this occurred, but I just want to point that out. But again, that is the exception, not the rule to our people.
