At tonight's City Council meeting a contract with a technology consultant was approved to create and maintain a website for the city. I had a chance a couple months ago to hear a representative of the technology consulting firm present to the Council. I was impressed with what he had to say and feel he will be able to serve the city well. Crest Hill has a website currently, but has done an extremely poor job of keeping it updated and relevant. I wish it had been possible for the city staff to have kept the existing site in the condition that the citizens deserved. However that will now be taken care and the first year's cost is being covered by a State grant, thankfully.
I am a strong proponent of people knowing what the City is doing and being able to participate in government. An open and accessible government is the best way to force our elected officials to do their jobs, work for our best interest, and root out corruption and inefficiency. A website that provides information on meeting dates, agendas, minutes, local ordinances, and the ability to interact with city government on-line is a large step towards more open and accessible government. Once it is on-line, the whole world knows what is going on and the actions of out city will no longer be hidden away. And a citizen that can contact the city and get what he or she needs with a few clicks of a mouse, is more involved than may otherwise have been possible.
During the meeting, I was also reminded a number of times of one of the great communication failings of this city. Numerous agenda items are voted one with little discussion or explanation. Most of those in the audience and watching on television have little idea of the issues being decided. If one really wants to know what is going on, one would need to attend the work sessions where the issues are discussed in depth and questioned fully. While these work sessions are open to the public, they are poorly attended for a number of reasons and also they are not televised. The work sessions are not held on a consistent basis or always on the same day of the week. This makes it difficult to know when all work sessions are. I find myself often having to stop by city hall and check the posted agendas to keep track of when they are. And the varying evenings are not conducive to those with busy schedules who need to plan ahead if they wish to attend city meetings. The real failure though is that the City does not broadcast the work sessions.
The City controls the public access channel that the council meetings and other community events are broadcast on. The City has given control of the channel to a group of volunteers and has contributed thousands of dollars towards the equipment used to run the channel. While, I recognize that any broadcasts require the time and efforts of this group of volunteers, I feel that it is the responsibility of the City to work with them to broadcast the work sessions. I do not think it is too much to ask this of those who run the station in consideration of what the City provides to them in terms of funding and the opportunity to broadcast other content. I do not see the need for the work sessions to be done in the same quality as the council meetings if that would allow the use of fewer people to record the meeting.
Communication is about more than the City merely keeping the residents informed, it is about allowing the citizens to be involved in government. This cannot be a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, if the people are kept in the dark and unable to know what the government is doing. I applaud the City for taking a step in the right direction with the website and urge them to keep working to improve communication in other ways so as to better serve this city.
