| COLUMBUS CITY COUNCIL MEDIA RELEASE For Immediate Release: March 19, 2012 For More Information: John Ivanic, (614) 645-6798 |
City of Columbus Recognized for Government Transparency
(Columbus)--Efforts to make the day to day operations of City of Columbus and the Columbus City Council more transparent and accessible to the public have been recognized by a national non-profit group. The Sunshine Review, an organization founded to promote government transparency, has given the City a grade of A- in its 2012 Sunny Awards ranking the availability of public records and information on the web.
"The Columbus City Council has invested in the technology that is opening local government and making more information than ever before accessible to the public," said Councilmember A. Troy Miller, chair of the Technology Committee. "These improvements are now putting important documents at the fingertips of the public and promoting a better understanding of what we as a Council are doing and why."
Earlier this year, the City Council launched an improved Legislative Center for the public to access Council documents and legislation. The site, which can be accessed from City Council’s homepage Columbuscitycouncil.org, allows anyone to access all Council produced agendas, legislative attachments, minutes, and other information in a timely, user friendly format from their computer, phone or tablet device without having to first contact City Council.
According to Sunshine Review’s website:
For the 2012 awards, Editors at Sunshine Review analyzed more than 6,000 government websites and graded each on a 10-point transparency checklist. Editors looked at content available on government websites against what should be provided. They sought information on items such as budgets, meetings, lobbying, financial audits, contracts, academic performance, public records and taxes.
Efforts to promote transparency and efficiencies were also recognized in a recent Columbus Dispatch editorial praising the City of Columbus for its work to increase the public’s access and understanding of the legislative process.
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