On January 27, Stormont, Dundas, and Glengarry (SDG) counties council received a report outlining recommended changes to its communications policy. Key changes proposed included set response times for inquiries, revised branding guidelines, and a unified strategy for all departments when communicating with the public.
“As I read through, it made me feel very confident in how we are going to portray ourselves to the public, both for the sake of staff and for council,” Councillor Steve Densham said.
The original SDG Communications Strategy was implemented in October 2013 and then updated in November 2016.
Corporate Communications Coordinator Todd Lihou explained that the changes consolidated three policies into one, and “will provide greater specificity with respect to how SDG Counties communications can be administered across a variety of platforms.”
The report stated that the most significant changes include “public requests for information will be acknowledged within 24 hours and responded to within three business days of receipt, IT services will be responsible for the security of social media channels, and that sdgcounties.ca will be the chief conveyor of information to the public.”
Changes impacting branding and communication with media were also recommended, such as having the “correct branding (SDG Counties) used across all platforms and internal communications,” to eliminate confusion surrounding past monikers like “SD&G,” and that the counties will make themselves available “via Corporate Communications, to inquiries from the media, in a timely manner.”
“It really enforces—and I was looking for these two words—transparency and accountability, because that is so important,” Councillor Carma Williams said.
Other recommendations included continuing to stream council meetings on YouTube, ensuring that social media content is monitored for misinformation and ensuring content is updated, and removing posts considered “false, defamatory, abusive, hateful, obscene, racist, sexualized, threatening, [or] discriminatory.”
The proposed changes would not apply to by-laws, corporate policies, legal agreements, or the SDG Library.
Council will be presented with the finalized copy of the communications policy at a later date.
