Transparency

I believe that transparency is at the heart of a good democracy. How can people make informed decisions without access to important information? We live in an information age, where it is not only possible to disseminate information widely to the community, but it is the government’s responsibility to do so. I propose digitizing governmental functions which will allow more efficient use of resources, as well as provide traceability and easy access to the community. Imagine being able to report a downed tree or a traffic light in disrepair from an app on your phone. What would it be like to go to our town website and easily find detailed information about our town budget and the Comprehensive Plan explained in plain English? I have experience working with a German engineering company that provides digital transformations for large industrial companies like oil and gas, chemical, and even government townships. Making this type of change requires an upfront investment of money and time to get all of the processes in order and to make sure good data is being transferred. It also requires training for everyone to adjust to a new way of doing things. But after that, when choosing the right software, it should be really easy to use, enhancing not only community transparency but use our time and physical resources more efficiently, reducing waste.

This is just one idea of actualizing a more transparent government. There are many best practice tools and guides written by Non-Governmental Organizations, dedicated to true democracy. One such example is a toolkit from the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development has produced a budget transparency toolkit. I believe this is a great place to begin. While this is an international organization and not all of the best practices will be relevant on the town level, many are. The principles outlined in the toolkit are to promote: Accountability, Integrity, Inclusiveness, Trust, and Quality. We need all of those things.