City of Savannah Open Government Directive

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REVISED DRAFT

Drafted originally with revisions from public feedback by Saja Aures, Public Information Office, City of Savannah, May 2013.

Supported currently by Open Savannah, a volunteer civic tech organization part of the Code for America network.

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Introduction

This directive is intended to provide an initial framework for the City of Savannah to achieve the goal of creating a more open government. It’s an initial step in what should be considered a dynamic, progressive and ever-changing process. As technology evolves and the methods of fostering a well-informed citizenry shift, the City must be adaptive and responsive in its approach to openness.

Some change must happen incrementally, over extended periods of time, to ensure the City’s sound stewardship of public data security and personal privacy rights. Other changes can be made quickly, implementing “light-weight solutions” designed to have a shorter period of activity but attached to clear goals or outcomes within a defined timeline.

Adopting the “lean start-up” model for the City’s open gov initiative allows departments to innovate and to focus on iterations of growth and improvement, rather than be held back by fear of failure. Public engagement is a key component to this directive and must be a requirement of any plan or action undertaken by the City under the umbrella of openness.

As outlined in this directive, City staff from across all bureaus and departments must work together and with the public to ensure open and effective government, establishing a system of transparency, public participation, collaboration and accountability.

Publish Government Information Online

To increase accountability, promote informed public participation, and create economic development opportunities with the tech start-up/developer community, the City must expand access to information by making it available online in open formats that facilitate access to and reuse of information.

1. Online Publication: The City should publish information online (such as budget information, crime statistics, contracts, policies and procedures, and data or information frequently requested under the Georgia Open Records Act, in addition to any other planned or mandated publication methods) and preserve and maintain electronic records. Data and records must be preserved and maintained consistent with the Georgia Open Records Act and other applicable law and policy.
2. Timing and Consistency: Timely and consistent publication of information is an essential component of open government. As such, the City must develop schedules for making information available to the public and indicating when information is updated.
3. Presumption of Openness: With respect to information, the presumption should be in favor of openness and publication (to the extent permitted by law and subject to valid privacy, confidentiality, security, or other restrictions). Where practicable, the City must publish all data that is available in a machine-readable, electronic format and which is not subject to valid privacy, security or legal restriction.
4. Online and Open: The City should publish information online. Online information should be in an open, non-proprietary, format that can be retrieved, downloaded, indexed, sorted, searched, and reused by commonly used web search applications and commonly used software.
5. Open Government Web Page: The City must establish a common web page to serve as the source for city-wide and departmental activities related to this Local Open Government Directive.
6. Open Government Data Set Catalog: The City, with the exception of data restricted for valid reasons of privacy, public safety, or legal privilege, must create a catalog of its public information available in a machine-readable, electronic format. The catalog must be accessible through the City’s Open Government web page. The catalog should indicate:
7. If the information is publicly-accessible online;
8. The date of when the information was made publicly-accessible online;
9. The date the information was last updated;
10. If the information is from a primary source or has been aggregated or modified; and
11. If the information is restricted by any license or privacy restrictions.
12. High-Value Data Sets: Each City Bureau must identify and publish online, in an open format, at least one high-value data set or other types of previously non-publicly accessible information.
13. Public Feedback: The Open Government web page must include a mechanism for the public to: 1. Provide feedback and assess the quality of published information; and 2. Provide input about which information to prioritize for publication.
14. Response to Public Feedback: The City should respond to public feedback received through the Open Government web page on a regular, timely basis. Responses should be made public and include descriptions of actions taken or reasons for not taking action based on public input.
15. Publication of Open Records Requests: The City should publish each Georgia Open Records Act request in an open format on the Open Government web page.
16. **Licenses: **The City must not assert any copyright, patent, trademark, or other restriction on government information. However, such restrictions may be applied to information shared by the City that was compiled or modified by non-governmental entities or individuals.

Create and Institutionalize a Culture of Open Government

To support open government and government accountability the City must develop and implement:

1. Open Government Plan: By the end of the calendar year 2014, the City must develop and publish an Open Government Plan that describes how the organization can increase and improve transparency, public participation, and collaboration.
2. Transparency: The Open Government Plan should describe steps the City will take to conduct its work more openly and publish its information online. The plan should describe how the City is currently meeting its legal information dissemination obligations under the Georgia Open Records Act and how the City plans to create more access to information and opportunities for public participation. This information should include ordinances and regulations, policies, budget information, geographic data, community statistics, and other public records and data.
3. Participation: To create more informed and effective policies, the City should enhance opportunities for the public to participate throughout the City’s decision-making processes. The Open Government Plan should include descriptions of: 1. Online access to proposed rules, ordinances, and other regulations; 2. Online access to information and resources for the public to be properly informed (such as frequently asked questions, City officials’ and department contact information, and other supportive content); 3. Opportunities for the public to comment through the web on proposed guidelines, directives, ordinances, or other local regulations; 4. Methods of identifying stakeholders and other affected parties and inviting their participation; 5. Proposed changes to internal management and administrative policies to improve participation; 6. Links to appropriate web sites where the public can engage in the City’s existing participatory processes; and 7. Proposals for new feedback mechanisms, including innovative tools and practices that create new and more accessible methods for public participation.
4. **Collaboration: ** The Open Government Plan should describe steps the City will take to enhance and expand its practices to further cooperation among City departments, other governmental agencies, the public, non-profits and private entities in fulfilling the City’s obligations. The plan should include specific details about: 1. Proposed changes to internal management and administrative policies to improve collaboration; 2. Proposals to use technology platforms to improve collaboration among City employees and the public; 3. Descriptions of and links to appropriate web sites where the public can learn about existing collaboration efforts; and 4. Innovative methods, such as hack-a-thons or competitions, to obtain ideas from and to increase collaboration with those in the private sector, non-profit, and academic communities.
5. **Evaluation: **The City's progress towards meeting this Open Government Directive and creating an Open Government plan must be evaluated six (6) months after its first formal release from the Office of the City Manager, then one (1) year after, and each subsequent year.

The City should release these evaluations on the Open Government web page or create an Open Government Dashboard to provide the public with both graphic and narrative evaluation information. The evaluation should indicate if the City has not satisfied, partially satisfied, or fully satisfied the following criteria:

    1. Experts and other stakeholders were consulted when creating the Open Government Plan;
    2. The public was involved in developing the Open Government Plan;
    3. The Open Government Plan includes all of the elements required in the Open Government Directive;
    4. The City has established processes and a timeline for publishing information and data sets online;
    5. The City has established processes and a timeline for making underlying, raw data available online;
    6. The City has effectively promoted its open government efforts to the public;
    7. The City has effectively promoted its open government efforts to local stakeholders;
    8. The City has established efficient public feedback mechanisms;
    9. The City has reviewed, responded to, and incorporated public feedback; and;
    10. The City has established processes to revise its Open Government Plan to reflect changing public needs and new technologies.

1. Working Group: With the approval of the City Manager and Public Information Office Director, the Public Information Administrator should establish and lead a working group that focuses on transparency, accountability, public participation, and collaboration within the City government. This group should serve several critical functions, including: 1. Transparency Forum: The working group may provide a forum to share best practices on innovative ideas to promote transparency, including system and process solutions for information collection, aggregation, validation, and dissemination; and 2. Participation and Collaboration Forum: The working group may provide a forum to share best practices on innovative ideas to promote participation and collaboration, including how to experiment with new technologies, take advantage of the expertise and insight of people both inside and outside the City government, and form high impact collaborations with researchers, the private sector, and the public. 3. **Public Input Forum: **The working group may provide a forum for developing resolutions to issues described through the public feedback mechanisms of the Open Government web page.

Create an Enabling Policy Framework for Open Government

Emerging technologies open new forms of communication between government and the public. Achieving a more open government requires the various professional disciplines within the government (such as communications, legal, procurement, finance and technology operations) to work together to define and develop open government solutions. Policies must be regularly reviewed and revised to realize the potential of technology for open government.

1. Identification of Barriers, Guidance, and Revisions: The City Attorney’s Office, in consultation with the City’s Information Technology Department and Public Information Office, should review existing City policies to identify impediments to open government and to the use of new technologies and, where necessary, issue clarifying guidance and/or propose revisions to such policies, to promote greater openness in government.

**Publication of Guidance and Proposed Policy Changes: **Any clarifying guidance and/or proposed policies related to this Open Government Directive must be available through the City's Open Government web page.