Fredonia’s trustees expressed a desire in February to boost the village’s social media presence before this week’s water emergency, but Mayor Douglas Essek was skeptical.

Trustee Jon Espersen said at a Board of Trustees workshop Feb. 28 the village needs an official presence on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, so it can reach younger village residents. He specifically mentioned a desire to better inform SUNY Fredonia students; Espersen has pushed for more of a relationship between the school and the village.

During the boil-water order that lasted from Sunday morning to Wednesday afternoon, comments across social media platforms called for the village to revisit a Facebook or social media presence. “What you do is you have one or two people who are administrators of it, and anything that is added after the sites are developed has to go through them,” Espersen said. “Every community does it.”

Essek reported that while he was a trustee, he attended a seminar where attorneys said that municipal social media pages can create liability issues.

“I can tell you during the (September 2020) water crisis, all it did was open it up to craziness” in the comments section, he said of the village’s old Facebook page.

“So don’t read them,” said Trustee Nicole Siracuse.

“If you don’t have it, you don’t have to read them,” Essek said.

“We have to distribute information in a way that people are getting their information,” Siracuse replied.

Essek shot back, “You’re saying that a college student who’s on a computer on their phone cannot type in our website and find out information that way?”

Espersen repeated that college students have told him that the village did not have a presence in their preferred corners of the Internet.

Essek — who wound up taking down the village Facebook page in 2020 after the angry water comments — appeared unenthusiastic about the idea.

“It’s not up to me, it’s up to the board,” Essek said. “We also have a website and we have phone numbers and we have emails that people can contact us. That’s the proper way that I see to contact us, and not on Facebook.”

The mayor added, “People instant message me still. They still contact me on my private Facebook page. I don’t think it’s appropriate. I know it’s a new generation but I’m just telling you my feelings.”

Siracuse pointed out that the village can turn off comments on its social media posts.

“This is a huge blockage for them,” she said of college students. “Just to say, ‘we don’t want to meet you halfway,’ is unfair to them.”

Trustee Dave Bird agreed the pages should be set up solely to disseminate information, and not accept comments.

Espersen said SUNY Fredonia students have offered to create the sites. When the sites are ready, village officials would administer them.

He sought a resolution for the next trustees’ meeting that the sites will go forward.

Village Attorney Melanie Beardsley said the main concern about liability on municipal social media sites comes when some public comments are allowed and some aren’t. “If you’re going to do it one way or the other you just have to be steadfast on whichever one it is,” she said of allowing public comments. “You don’t get to pick and choose.”

Trustee James Lynden expressed concern that a backer of an event would be upset if their thing didn’t make the pages.

“We will make someone unhappy, guaranteed,” said village Clerk AnneMarie Johnston.

“We make someone unhappy no matter what it us we do,” replied Espersen.

Siracuse said the village strictly post about its own sponsored events. Things such as the Farmers Market and the Opera House would not be included.

Trustees suggested posting things such as water advisories, road closures and meeting announcements.