JANESVILLE – Local residents are questioning whether it was ethical for a Janesville City Council member to delete Facebook comments in response to his recent post about the removal of a local dam, according to complaints obtained by The (Janesville) Gazette through an open records request.
Council member Jens Jorgensen called the removal “such a terrible mistake in our city’s history” in an Aug. 4 post that generated nearly 200 comments, Jim Dayton of The Gazette reported. The comments of at least two people supporting the removal were deleted, records show.
Jorgensen admitted to deleting “an unknown number of comments” and said he wasn’t aware Facebook comments were considered public record, Dayton reported.
Two days after the post, City Manager Mark Freitag emailed Jorgensen, noting public records associated with city business, including social media posts, must be maintained for seven years, according to the story.
