When I tried to access the Odham for Mayor’s Facebook page on July 13, 2022, I was surprised that he not only deleted my response to a post about city business (dated June 29), but he also blocked a citizen (me, also a member of the press) from accessing a public record; therefore, it appears that he violated the State of North Carolina and Federal Public Records laws.
Odham, and the other board members were advised of the Public Records law and how it relates to using social media during a Board of Aldermen meeting on October 12, 2021, when M. Scott Davis, the city attorney, gave a presentation on the guidelines for elected and appointed boards, commissioners, and committees using personal and private social media platforms. Watch the video here.
When talking about an elected official’s use of email, Attorney Davis said, “The city of New Bern captures officials’ emails and archives them forever.”
In referenced to personal emails, he stated, “If you send out city information on those personal emails, you’ve just now made that personal email…a public record that you individually have the obligation to keep and maintain forever.”
He then discussed social media, “Any content about city business becomes a public record, even when posted on personal or private pages.” And made it clear, “Social media works exactly the same way as private emails…the question is — always, what’s the content, not where did it come from.”
How many other citizens has Alderman Odham done this to? I’m asking because it’s odd to see a politician’s Facebook page so clean from any negative comments about them.
Odham for Mayor page exists, but this is a screenshot of what displays when a user is blocked from a page.
Four days ago, I wrote an article that revealed his disregard for N.C.S.G § 160A-169. City employee political activity.
If Alderman Odham claims being “Backed by the Blue” and he is not upholding his current oath of office, how will this work out for our city?
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By Wendy Card, Editor
