Open Illinois.org

The Sam Adams Alliance’s Sunshine Review uses a 10 point system to assess the transparency of governments within Illinois. They have recently reported that the city of Carbondale has met all 10 criteria for transparency with the launch of their website. Click here for Carbondale’s website. This would make Carbondale the first city in Illinois to meet all such criteria. An article from The Daily Egyptian reads:

“‘Carbondale is the only government agency in Illinois to have received all 10 check marks,’ said Kristin McMurray, managing editor at the review, in a release. ‘It must be noted that the Sunshine Review has suggested Carbondale add their checkbook register online … to improve their site, but overall the city and the public should be very pleased with the level of transparency found on the city Web site.’
City councilman Joel Fritzler has repeatedly raised questions about Cole’s unspecified travel expenses that appear before the council for approval. Councilwoman Mary Pohlmann said she would like more transparency in those expenses as well, though details about that spending are available upon request.
When the city introduced its new Web site March 2, it added a citizen access page that met the review’s “information is provided” requirement, outlining what information is available to the public under the federal Freedom of Information Act. This includes budgets, audits, money provided to Carbondale in the federal stimulus package, the city’s ethics code, tax information and public records.” Read the full article here.

Kudos to the city of Carbondale for their commitment to transparency and accountability. Let’s hope that more cities within Illinois follow their example.