electronic communication

For at least a decade, corporations, universities, and other large organizations have been using electronic time sheets, saving time and money in payroll and human resources departments and giving managers a quick and thorough accounting of how their employees are spending their time. Electronic time sheets also conserve paper, eliminate the agony of digging through paper files to find old records, and provide a wealth of other information including logs of used sick and vacation time, and other types of absences.

Managing a fire department has never been easy, but it has never been quite as challenging as it is today. Fire service leaders face numerous obstacles, including:

The social media phenomenon is sweeping the world. According to statistics, 96 percent of Generation Y has joined a social network. Social media is the number one activity on the web. If Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest in the world. Over 3.5 billion pieces of content are shared on Facebook each week.

On any given day, dozens of newsworthy events and announcements are generated in cities and towns across the state. Perhaps there are new hours at the transfer station, the deadline for dog licenses is approaching, a master plan update is underway and citizen participation is desired, or an annual event is on the horizon and volunteers are in short supply. You probably post such news to your website and various bulletin boards. And, of course, you alert the media to the news, too.

Does your community have broadband or do you still have to access the internet by dial-up? If your community has cable, DSL, or other broadband service, do your residents wish they had more choices? Are you happy with the speed, service and price offered by your service providers? 

New social media technologies provide dynamic, accessible ways for municipalities to communicate with the public and perhaps with a whole new generation of citizens. However, as with all communication, social media presents a number of legal issues municipalities need to recognize. It may be dressed up as something new, but most social media technologies present similar challenges for local officials as their more traditional counterparts.

Draw a Parallel

One of the thorniest problems for local officials these days is determining how to deal with e-mail communication under New Hampshire’s Right to Know Law. Recommended amendments to the law put forth by the Right to Know Law Study Commission, which became this year’s HB 626, would have clarified many of the issues raised by electronic communications. Unfortunately, however, the bill was effectively killed in the Senate, so the legislative clarification long-awaited by local officials did not come to pass.