Keona Gardner | Treasure Coast Newspapers

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KEONA GARDNER/TCPALM

FORT PIERCE — The city apologized Wednesday after the Fort Pierce City Marina shared a Facebook meme calling several national media outlets a threat to the United States.

Fort Pierce City Marina shared the meme at about 4 p.m. Tuesday. In about an hour, before the post was removed, it received 46 reactions, 21 comments and 10 shares.

“Sadly, the biggest threat to our country is not Russia, China or N. Korea," the meme read. "It’s MSNBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, WAPO and the NY Times."

City Manager Nick Mimms learned of the post Wednesday and ordered the city Human Resources Department is launch an investigation.

“We sincerely apologize for this error,” Mimms said in an statement. “We acknowledge the mistake that was made and realize that it may have offended some of our followers. The post was immediately removed because it did not reflect the mission and values set forth by the city of Fort Pierce.”

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There are five city employees who have access to the Fort Pierce City Marina Facebook page. However, it is the responsibility of the marina’s staff to post to the page, Mimms said.

KEONA GARDNER/TCPALM

Mimms declined to identify the employee who shared the post because it is part of the internal investigation. He would not discuss any discipline stemming from the incident.

“The city’s social-media policy prohibits comments of political issues, therefore the Fort Pierce City Marina should not have shared content unrelated to the city of Fort Pierce and Fort Pierce City Marina,” Mimms said in the emailed statement.

The post was removed from the marina's Facebook page but the post was retained and archived online to comply with the state public-records law, according to the city.

City Commissioner Reggie Sessions applauded Mimms for taking swift action to keep city social-media sites free from politics.

"City Hall and the city's Facebook page should not be used for posting political positions, period," Sessions said. "City staff needs to know what they do with their own personal page is on them, but you should not be using city resources to promote your own political positions."

The city is taking steps to ensure employees adhere to the social-media policy by providing more training to staff, reviewing and updating its social-media policy, officials said.