SALT LAKE CITY – Salt Lake City government officials took the next step toward making Salt Lake City more open and accessible with the release of a draft of the Open Government Policy for public comment. The proposed policy is the result of months of work by City officials to identify methods for making Utah’s capital city one of the most open governments in the state and region.

The draft policy is available online at www.transparencyslcgov.com where the public is encouraged to review and comment on it. In the lead up to the announcement today, Mayor Becker and the Salt Lake City Council have envisioned Salt Lake City’s open government to consistently follow certain basic principles. These principles include:

• Providing the public and City employees easy access to information that educates and informs.
• Listening to all people affected by the City’s actions. No person or group affected by the City’s actions has a greater right to be heard than anyone else.
• Seeing the public as a source of creative ideas and effective solutions.
• Following stated processes, being truthful, and welcoming accountability.
• Disclosing public officials’ conflicts of interest to the public.

The goals of Salt Lake City’s draft Open Government Policy include:

• Providing complete and understandable information to the public.
• Planning for and incorporating public input at the beginning of each project.
• Letting the public know “why” decisions are made.
• Going above and beyond the requirements when providing information to the public.
• Making the information on www.slcgov.com easily searchable, accessible, and sortable.
• Ensuring Salt Lake City’s public processes are understandable and fair to all parties involved.
• Practicing the principles of an open government in City employee’s daily interactions within City government and between employees and departments.

Since the transparency initiative was announced in January, City officials have come to understand how critically important employee engagement is to the success of open government in Salt Lake City. To that end, City officials will encourage employee input as well as public input on the proposed policy.

In acknowledging today’s announcement, Mayor Becker commented, “More openness can have a transformational impact on how government serves those who live, work and invest in Salt Lake City. Clear procedures and accessible, easy-to-understand records and information will promote the accountability of our public servants as they make decisions and conduct the public’s business and will invite the participation of residents to collaborate in the strengthening and governance of our Capital City.”

The City is also releasing its final proposed policy implementation plan. The plan was originally opened for public comment on January 6, 2009, at the Mayor and City Council’s joint announcement of the Transparency for a Collaborative Government initiative. The revised plan has incorporated public comments received and additional research on the part of the steering committee. A copy of the implementation plan is available online.

For more information about Salt Lake City’s Open Government Initiative visit www.transparencyslcgov.com.

 

 

 

 

Mayor Ralph Becker and Salt Lake City Council

Announce the Release of the Transparency Initiative 90-Day Progress Report

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Download Mayor Becker's memo to Department Heads

SALT LAKE CITY – Mayor Ralph Becker announced today the release of the 90-Day Progress Report reviewing Salt Lake City's Greater Transparency for Collaborative Government Initiative.

The 90-Day Progress Report outlines the advancements achieved by the Initiative in making Salt Lake City government more accessible to the general public. Since the release of the 30-Day Progress Report, the city has worked on many fronts to make the workings of city government more transparent, most notably the budget process.

Public Budget Workshops were held to educate Salt Lake City residents about how the City’s budget is created, prioritized, and to gather residents’ ideas on the City’s budget. The Workshops and a Citizen Budget Survey are described in greater detail in the 90-Day report. The City has also made the workshops available online at www.slcgov.com/budgetworkshop.

In addition to the Public Budget Workshops, other developments that have been made since the announcement of the Greater Transparency for Collaborative Government Initiative include:

• The Transparency Initiative Website at www.trasparencyslcgov.com which went live on January 6, 2009, and now includes Financial Transparency, Transparency in the Police Department, Greater Transparency for a Collaborative Government, and Greater Transparency for a Collaborative Government

• The Transparency Initiative Website’s forum in which any individual may post suggestions and comments

• City representatives have met with all but one of the City’s 21 community councils to discuss the Transparency Initiative and found that, on average, respondents ranked city government at 3.2 on a 1-5 scale for its level of openness

• Salt Lake City’ Recovery and Reinvestment website (recovery.slcgov.com) has been launched to help the public learn how the City is maximizing the use of funds granted to Utah from The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

• The City has launched a new Boards and Commissions website (www.slcgov.com/boards). The site details each constituent board’s mission and purpose, membership, meeting times/locations, and contact information.

Upon releasing this 90-Day Progress Report, Mayor Becker remarked, “We are pleased with the work and advancements being made to open the windows and doors of city government, making it more transparent. I look forward to even more public input on new policies for the City.”

Continuing to move forward, Mayor Becker has also requested that Department Directors submit to him a written assessment of the information from their departments that is currently provided to the public, along with their existing strategies used to obtain the public’s input, and their plans to implement more effective communication and greater transparency in the future.

To read the 90-Day Progress Report in its entirety, please click here: www.transparencyslcgov.com.

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