New Public Information Website On The Way

Posted by Jeff Pruitt - 4/22/08 @ 12:13 pm - Filed Under Featured, Local Politics

Another milestone for the open government task force was reached today when the city and county agreed to develop a joint city-county public information website. This will be a web portal that citizens can access to get information about all public meetings including notices, agendas and minutes.

The idea was proposed by Recorder John McGauley as well as Fort Wayne Public 1 during the last open government task force meeting. Congratulations to McGauley, Commissioner Bill Brown, city CTO Clifford Clarke and mayor Henry for following up on this suggestion and taking steps towards the first local government public information portal in the state of Indiana.

You can read the press release below…

Fort Wayne, Ind. – Today, Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry and the Allen County Commissioners announced that work is underway on the creation of a joint website to house information regarding both City and County public meetings. The new website will seek to provide information such as meeting dates, times, locations, agendas and minutes. The website will also provide an opportunity for other governmental organizations to make their meeting information available. The website will be fully operational in the near future.

“While much or all of this information is currently on the City’s website, it is sometimes hard to find,” Mayor Henry said. “This joint website will provide the public with easier access to information on public meetings by placing all of the information at one location. I vowed at the beginning of my term to make my administration as open, transparent and accessible as possible, and this collaboration with the Allen County Commissioners, is a major step toward that goal.”

A joint City – County public information website was originally proposed by former City and County Public Information Officer, and current Allen County Recorder, John McGauley. “Communities are at their best when citizens are informed, interested and involved in local government,” McGauley said. “A one-stop public information portal will make it that much simpler for the citizens of Fort Wayne and Allen County to be active partners in government at all levels.”

“Informed citizens make a community stronger,” commented Allen County Commissioner Bill Brown. “Easily understanding the ‘when, where and what’ of public meetings will help people learn what local government does.”

“This is an excellent first step in making local government more accessible through the internet,” added Commissioner Nelson Peters. “We look forward to collaborating with our city partners on similar initiatives such as integrating public access television programming.”

(Photo from JohnMcGauley.com)