Communicating relevant and significant information to residents and visitors is top priority for the Township of North Kawartha. Council and staff recognize the importance of providing information through a variety of timely and cost effective ways in order to reach our residents and visitors. We strive to ensure that information relating to the Township of North Kawartha is easily accessible to residents, visitors and Township employees.

There is a variety of communication methods used by the Township including print media (newspapers), post mail, public notices, email distribution, Township website, social media (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and Electronic Information Sign.

Website: http://www.northkawartha.ca

Facebook: www.facebook.com/NorthKawartha 

Twitter: www.twitter.com/NorthKawartha 

Instagram: www.instagram.com/NorthKawartha

The Township of North Kawartha Event Calendar is intended to include special community events that are open to the general public and support the concept of community involvement.

• Public Events:  All events must be open to the general public.  Invitation/member-only events will not be accepted
• Location: Events must take place within the Township of North Kawartha
• Submission Criteria: Events must be open to the general public and generally fall under the following categories:
• Environment
  Recreation
  Fairs and Festivals
  Community events (movie nights, musical performances, theatre)
  Farmers Markets
  History & Heritage
  Kids & Family
  Culture
  Science & Nature
  Visual Arts
• Submission Process: Submitted events go through an approval process to help ensure integrity of the listing; it may take up to three business days before the event is published.

• Are commercial in nature and, in the Township’s sole opinion, are attempting to advertise, promote or sell products or services of an individual business unless it is a Township sponsored or sanctioned event;
• Discriminatory to any individual or group;
• Fundraising events unless they are for registered charities, non-profit organizations;
• Regularly scheduled events for an organization;
• Promote, exhibit, illustrate or manifest hate or obscene/pornographic/sexual content of any kind;
• Events that are conflict with any applicable laws, municipal by-laws or policies.

Social Media Policy (April 7, 2020)

Purpose

The Township of North Kawartha is committed to excellence in municipal management with a focus on accountability, transparency, communication and customer service. As a result, the Township strives to provide open access to information about its policies, services, and initiatives. The Township recognizes that social media applications are widely being utilized as communication tools with the potential to provide the public with timely information. The Township is committed to disbursing media information in a range of formats to reach a variety of stakeholders.

Strategic Plan

This Policy aligns with the Corporate Strategic Plan goals:

Maintain a Strong Accountable Municipal Government
3.1. Maintain policies that enable effective governance.
3.3. Provide Quality Programs and Services.
3.4. Provide for effective Township Communication.

Scope

This policy will apply to the Township of North Kawartha website and all social media platforms including but not limited to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest.
This policy will apply to all municipal employees and Council.
This policy will apply to internal communications and external communications.

Corporate Use of Social Media

The CAO or the designated Website Administrator or Department Managers will monitor the social media accounts on a daily basis, (Monday to Friday 9 am to 4:30 pm) preferably first thing in the morning and respond to or forward inquiries to the respective Department Manager for their expertise. To monitor the social media accounts:

• Respond accordingly to any messages and consult with the appropriate Department for the response, if required. Ensure the CAO is made aware of any inappropriate, harassing or defamatory messages.
• Ensure that there is no defamatory or inappropriate content posted.  Refer to Implementations or Procedures section (g) for further detail.

 (g) Ensure that posted material is not obscene, defamatory, threatening, harassing, discriminatory, or hateful to another person or entity including the Corporation, all employees, its contractors, partners, or other business related individuals, organizations and stakeholders. If you see such material on the website or social media platforms, alert the Chief Administrative Officer or the Website Administrator.

Check the activity feed on social media for anything relevant and worthwhile to retweet or share with North Kawartha followers.

Content (to be posted on website)

The content posted by the public on social media does not necessarily reflect the views of The Township of North Kawartha. Any official content posted by The Township of North Kawartha can be recognized by the page name and the Township of North Kawartha profile photo. We reserve the right to delete, without notification, any objectionable content posted by the public. Any individual who repeatedly violates the terms of this policy will be blocked from posting to the Township of North Kawartha page and reported to the social media website.

Objectionable content includes, but is not limited to: personal attacks, harassment, threatening/defamatory/abusive/offensive/graphic/obscene/explicit/hateful/racist content or content that suggests or encourages illegal activity.
If you post content that is deemed to be spam or is for commercial purposes, as determined by The Township of North Kawartha at its sole discretion, the content will be deleted.

The appearance of external links does not represent official endorsement by The Township of North Kawartha.