City looks to increase transparency with upcoming website, asks for feedback

Government transparency is a widespread conversation topic and the city of Gig Harbor is working to achieve this goal through its Open Government Initiative and an upcoming website that will be launched this fall.

New features on the website will help to provide more information to Gig Harbor residents by providing easier and more complete access to public documents and a “Notify Me” option where residents can sign up for notifications on issues they have an interest in, said Shawna Wise, assistant city clerk and Open Government administrator.

“While we’re trying to do our best to keep everyone informed, there’s room for improvement,” Wise said. “We want people to know that we’ve heard you, we hear that you want information ... so we’re moving in that direction.”

The “Notify Me” feature will allow citizens to choose the information they want to stay updated on, including city projects, traffic issues or park closures.

“Instead of citizens coming to us, this program allows them to sign up for free to be notified by email for issues they’re following,” she said. “The goal is to send the information to them so they don’t have to be going through the website.”

The idea for the program first came to the attention of the city through a federal newsletter that featured an article about open government and using technology to communicate with citizens, said City Administrator Ron Williams. The idea was supported by city staff and the City Council, and the project has been moving steadily forward since.

“It’s been evolving over time to get exactly to where it’s going,” Williams said. “It has the dual benefit of making all that we have available to the public and (also) we can push out information to them.”

The website will also feature a powerful search option in the Document Center so that public records can be more easily located by those seeking them, Wise said, without needing to make a public records request.

To gather feedback and get a more specific idea about what citizens are looking for on their city’s website, an informal discussion and preview of the website will be held 5:30 to 6 p.m. Wednesday (April 12) in the Community Rooms at the Gig Harbor Civic Center, 3510 Grandview Street.

This story was originally published April 10, 2017 at 9:58 AM with the headline "City looks to increase transparency with upcoming website, asks for feedback."