City officials recently formally responded to a Marin County Civil Grand Jury report critiquing Novato’s website and the public’s ability to access information from it.
In March, the grand jury released a report evaluating websites of government entities throughout Marin County and provided corresponding letter grades. Novato’s website, Novato.org, received a “B-.” “A+” grades were given to the sites of Corte Madera and Sausalito.
The report scrutinizes website availability of items such as public records, basic information on staff and elected officials, revenue sources, audits and information about meetings.
The grand jury found that Novato is partially deficient in providing information on contracts the city has entered into that exceed $25,000, having legally required salary information of staff and elected officials and providing a “statement of facts” consisting of a centralized location where elected officials’ addresses and names are listed. The grand jury requested the statement of facts information be filed with Marin County and the Secretary of State’s office.
The city is obligated to respond to the Grand Jury’s criticism and recommendations. On May 17 Novato officials approved a written response. Novato is looking into an open data system in which all of its contracts that exceeded $25,000 can be stored and readily available to the public. The city has also added salary information to its site.
However, Novato will not register a statement of facts with the Secretary of State’s office or Marin County. City official say, the law that requires such information only applies to “a district, public authority, public agency, and any other political subdivision or public corporation in the state, but does not include the state or city.” Besides, Novato officials said, statement of fact information is included throughout the city’s website.
Interim City Manager Cathy Capriola said the city is proud of its website and plans to improve it beyond changes already made in a recent overhaul.
“As part of our public engagement efforts, we have more improvements coming soon to make it easier for our community to learn about, and engage with, private development projects,” Capriola said.
Novato spokeswoman Peggy Flynn said an upgrade was performed on the city’s website in 2015. Improvements included updated content on all pages, enhanced search capabilities, becoming mobile-friendly for cell phones and tablets and accessible to people with disabilities.
“Our website is our workhorse,” Flynn said, underscoring that the site is a way for the city to get out quick, accurate information to the public. “We want transparency and to be easy to navigate.”
The city’s website averages 18,000 visitors per month.
June 1, 2016
Marinscope Community Newspapers: Novato Advance
By Corey Pride
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