Haines Borough Manager David Sosa will unveil the municipality’s new Facebook page and hold a question-and-answer session at his “town hall” meeting next week.
The meeting will run from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, May 28, at the museum.
Sosa will also talk about public outreach in the community, introduce interim police chief Robert Griffiths, give an update on the budget process and review where important information is located on the borough’s website.
“The focus will be on efforts at communication and outreach and to provide updates to the community and answer questions in an informal venue that fosters communication,” Sosa said. “Anyone who is anyone will be there.”
Sosa said the borough is going to use the social networking site Facebook to quickly update residents about what the municipality is doing around town. He offered the example that he might snap a photo of Public Works employees fixing a road and instantaneously post it to the site.
“The sooner they friend us, the more quickly they can get informed,” he said.
Though Facebook is a networking platform designed for two-way interaction, Sosa said public comments on the page won’t be allowed.
“It’s going to be one-way, because part of the challenge we have is if we make it that people can post, everything becomes a public record and it becomes kind of a nightmare for maintaining it over time,” he said. “I’d rather use it as a community tool to update people than a back-and-forth communication tool.”
So far, Sosa and clerk Julie Cozzi are signed off to post, but Sosa said he will give more thought to who else will have that authority. “We don’t want it to get overwhelming.”
Sosa said he will also use the town hall meeting promote the mobile app developed by Haines Middle School students that helps visitors find their way around town.
“It will be the event of the season,” Sosa said.