3B.2 City Manager Report.
Open Government /Transparency
City Manager’s Report
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Transparency In Government
Good evening members of Council. Tonight I would like to talk with you about our efforts with regards to Open Government also known as transparency. I will address our efforts with
Open - Gov, a new service which will give taxpayers and anyone who is interested entry into the way that the City of Southlake does business.
Then Pilar Schank will talk with you
about other transparency efforts that are already underway and what we have planned for the future.
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Transparency vs. Open Government
Open Government is about building transparency, trust and ENGAGEMENT with the public.
Opengov is a technology company focused on building financial intelligence and transparency platforms for governments
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City Finances aka “The Budget”
Southlake OpenGov
Election Information
Southlake Development
Public Meetings & Agendas
Public Information Requests
Transparency Right Now
Thank you Sharen. OpenGov is a very powerful tool designed to give people an open view. But the City has other resources available which can give anyone a close-up look at how the
city does business.
Currently, the open government portal provides a look at the City’s annual budget and its debt. Several pages are dedicated to explaining the yearly budget, sales
tax and financial reports. All of these pages have contact forms which are a customers direct link to City Staff or to the Council when they have questions about the City’s finances.
Election
Information is also included. Never has it been so important for people to vote. This page is located here so that voters will always know what to expect when it comes to City elections
and what is on the ballot.
As you are well aware, development and development cases are always of high interest to our residents and businesses… this section of the site is always updating
with the latest information from the development activity story maps and of course Southlake 2035.
The link to the City’s Public Information requests page is also located here. With
more than 1000 requests each year coming in for the City as well as the Departments of Public Safety, this section of the site is busy.
We will also include pages for ethics and conflict
statements as well as public documents, the online, public access portal into the City Charter, City Code and the city’s legislative documents.
Finally, you can see the public meetings
page. This page is a direct link to our Agendas and minutes page… the digital listing of the City’s public meetings and links to the packets for those meetings.
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Going Forward… We will also include information about debt, specifically how the City manages debt both responsibly and transparently.
The pages will have a home on the Open Government
and Transparency page and will answer questions such as
Why does the City borrow money?
How does the City pay back borrowed money?
How can I be sure the City is using debt responsibly?
The
answer will tell the story of the City with regards to road construction, building construction, water lines, parks among other things. We intend to use infographics, videos and other
information sources to tell our transparent story.
All pages will also have contact information in case people are interested in communicating the old fashioned way, either on the
phone or in person.
And with that either Sharen or I am happy to answer any questions that you might have.
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Questions?
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OpenGov
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