The Raleigh Public Record has a transcript of Wake County Commission Chairman Paul Coble’s recent State of the County comments. There are many interesting things in the speech, but the issue of transparency caught my eye.
I hope each of you has had a chance to look at the new WakeGOV website that launched in October. It is our newer, fresher website but more importantly, it is easier for our residents to use. To build the new site, our Information Services department saved money by keeping everything in house. They did not use outside vendors to create the site and the content was created at the department and division level. More than 100 county employees have been trained to add content to the new site, which is one of the most viewed government sites in the state. In a matter of fact, on Friday, the new site won several awards at the 2012 North Carolina Association of Government Information Officers Seminar.
One aspect of the site that is innovative is the WATCH section, where residents can easily see exactly how their taxes are being used. Instead of looking back at the end of the year to see how much money was spent, they can see in real-time every expense incurred by the county. WATCH has received many awards, including a Digital Government Achievement Award from the Center for Digital Government, a national research and advisory institute on information technology policies and best practices in state and local government.Wake County also been contacted by a number of other governments who are interested in developing similar software for their jurisdiction. I need to give credit to Mr. Gurley as he was instrumental in the idea of using technology to make our government more transparent.
Excellent news for taxpayers. The WATCH portal can be found here.
