Today in a full City Council chamber the West Valley City Council unveiled our transparency standard and received an A plus rating for website transparency. It is once again refreshing to see our City lead the way on important issues. Below are the listed points of how as a City we will work to keep West Valley City the most open government in the state:
West Valley City – Today the West Valley City Council announced a seven-point West Valley City Transparency Standard, an initiative aimed at making West Valley City the most accessible and transparent municipality in the state. Representatives from the Sutherland Institute and the Utah Foundation for Open Government (UFOG) were present, supporting West Valley City’s efforts.
The seven points of the West Valley City Transparency Standard are:
1. West Valley City has a long and rich history of being more open than state GRAMA laws require, and this tradition will continue. Texts, instant messages, and other electronic communications will still be considered public documents in our city.
2. We will continue to make government employee salaries and wages, and who those wages are going to, public, and feel that the people should know what they are paying those who work for them.
3. The Council’s schedule of public events shall be made public and posted on the city website.
4. All city elected officials using blogs or Facebook commit to keep their privacy settings as “open” so that in these popular social media setting their conversations will be public.
5. Because transparency is especially critical in campaign finances, we will change the “may” to a “shall” in our ordinances, so that those who fail to submit their campaign financial disclosures on time shall be removed from the ballot.
6. Occasionally the taxpayer is stuck footing the bill for large GRAMA records requests such as when a developer in 2004 required West Valley City to conduct a records gathering job that consumed $30,000 for which the city was only able to collect $10,000. We appreciate the Utah Legislature working on developing reasonable charges as part of the state GRAMA program that protects both the taxpayer and the right of the free flow of information in a free society.
7. We have worked to meet all ten recommendations for an open and transparent municipal website, becoming one of the first cities in the state to receive an A+ rating.
West Valley City – Today the West Valley City Council announced a seven-point West Valley City Transparency Standard, an initiative aimed at making West Valley City the most accessible and transparent municipality in the state. Representatives from the Sutherland Institute and the Utah Foundation for Open Government (UFOG) were present, supporting West Valley City’s efforts.
The seven points of the West Valley City Transparency Standard are:
1. West Valley City has a long and rich history of being more open than state GRAMA laws require, and this tradition will continue. Texts, instant messages, and other electronic communications will still be considered public documents in our city.
2. We will continue to make government employee salaries and wages, and who those wages are going to, public, and feel that the people should know what they are paying those who work for them.
3. The Council’s schedule of public events shall be made public and posted on the city website.
4. All city elected officials using blogs or Facebook commit to keep their privacy settings as “open” so that in these popular social media setting their conversations will be public.
5. Because transparency is especially critical in campaign finances, we will change the “may” to a “shall” in our ordinances, so that those who fail to submit their campaign financial disclosures on time shall be removed from the ballot.
6. Occasionally the taxpayer is stuck footing the bill for large GRAMA records requests such as when a developer in 2004 required West Valley City to conduct a records gathering job that consumed $30,000 for which the city was only able to collect $10,000. We appreciate the Utah Legislature working on developing reasonable charges as part of the state GRAMA program that protects both the taxpayer and the right of the free flow of information in a free society.
7. We have worked to meet all ten recommendations for an open and transparent municipal website, becoming one of the first cities in the state to receive an A+ rating.
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