There was a second reading, and subsequent passage, of an ordinance before Whitewater’s Common Council on Tuesday, providing for greater openness and transparency in government. I’ve written in support of reform along these lines before. See, Municipal Openness and Transparency, and Their Alternatives.

This was the right step for Whitewater, a non-partisan effort to make the proceedings of meetings more accessible, to more people, as agendas, as minutes, and through consistent television recording of principal city meetings. There’s no left, right, or center in transparency — it’s simply a sound idea.

Here’s the text of the ordinance:

WHITEWATER TRANSPARENCY ENHANCEMENT ORDINANCE

The Common Council of the City of Whitewater, Walworth and Jefferson Counties, Wisconsin, do hereby ordain as follows:

Section I. Whitewater Municipal Code, Chapter 2.62, Whitewater Transparency Enhancement Ordinance, is hereby created to read as follows:

2.62.010 Purpose.
(a) The purpose of this ordinance is to maximize public awareness and participation in City of Whitewater government.
2.62.020 Posting Requirements.
(a) Agenda notices for all council, committee, commission and board meetings, requiring legal notice, shall be posted 72 hours in advance. If an agenda item is added between 24 and 72 hours prior to the meeting, it shall require an affirmative vote of a majority of the members voting to take up the matter.
(b) All council, committee, commission and board agendas shall be posted online on the City website 72 hours in advance of the meeting.
(c) All council, committee, commission and board packet materials, that can be reasonably scanned, shall be posted online 24 hours in advance of the meeting. The City shall provide an electronic notification feed alert, indicating that new information is available regarding an upcoming council, committee, commission or board meeting, to any party that has subscribed to the feed (requested notice from the City of the updated information).
(d) All requests for proposals and requests for bids shall be posted online as soon as is practicable.
(e) The council and all committee, commission and board meeting minutes shall be posted online within 30 days of the meeting. If the body does not meet within 30 days of the meeting, the minutes shall be posted within 14 days of the next meeting.

2.62.030 Information Technology Requirements.
(a) Beginning December I, 2010, City Council, Community Development Authority, Plan Commission and Police Commission meetings shall be videotaped, and the video shall be posted online.
2.62.040 Meeting Procedures.
(a) All council, committee, commission and board meetings shall have a public input agenda item to allow citizens to make statements on matters that are not on the agenda.
(b) All council, committee, commission and boards shall allow the public an opportunity to comment on substantive items on the meeting agenda. The council, committee, commission or board shall have the discretion to impose time limits and other reasonable procedural rules concerning the public comment.
(c) If the agenda for a council, committee, commission or board meeting includes staff reports or other reports, a specific description of the item to be reported on shall be listed on the agenda and said report(s) shall be limited to the specific items listed in the agenda.

2.62.050 Failure to Abide by Chapter Provisions Does Not Cause Actions to be Invalid.
(a) The failure by any council, committee, commission or board to adhere to the provisions of this chapter shall not cause any action by said council, committee, commission or board to be invalid.

Along with RSS feeds that the city offers to keep track of the municipal meeting schedule, or other changes to the City of Whitewater website, adherence to the provisions of this ordinance will give residents more information about their government. (I well understand that consistent adherence to these provisions is necessary for the ordinance to have value.)

There are a few other points worth mentioning —

Police Commission Meetings. It was predictable that at the September 21st first reading of the transparency ordinance, the chairwoman of the Police Commission spoke against television recording of meetings for her commission. If anyone in Whitewater found her position surprising, he’s not really in Whitewater, so to speak.

The idea that the PC meetings are a legitimate substitute for a grievance process is worse than mistaken; it’s utterly foolish. Whitewater lacks a legitimate and clear grievance procedure, and thinking that complainants will walk into a cramped room, with people they probably don’t know, with no certain and accurate recording of their remarks, and trust that process, is absurd. Suggesting that television will reduce the opportunity to register a complaint is false. In the recent history of our city, of over fourteen-thousand people, almost no one has walked up those steps, under the current arrangement, to that small, out-of-the way room, to attend that meeting, and complain about anything.

The current meeting ‘process’ is inadequate.

That cramped and out-of the-way room is not a place where an injured person is likely to feel comfortable. That can only come through a separate, professional grievance procedure. For others, there’s more security in attending a meeting where their remarks will be heard and seen accurately by their fellow residents.

One cannot be more out of one’s depth than someone who suggests otherwise.

(For a sound and sensible set of ideas for true leadership integrity, see Principles for Promoting Police Integrity. I have mentioned these ideas before — they’re from the Clinton years — and yet Whitewater’s leaders haven’t met many of these these years-old, federal Justice Department recommendations.)

I might have referred to the chairwoman’s remarks as a siren’s call, but they’re not in the least beguiling. No one will be enticed toward the rocks on account of her song; it’s easily, and sensibly, ignored.

It’s odd, though, because neither the chairwoman of the PC nor the remaining few who share her view seem to understand that these arguments for a more closed process (especially regarding the PC) are no longer credible in the city.

Conditions have changed; they’ll not be going back.

Audio or No Audio. Also during the first reading of this ordinance, on September 21st, there was discussion of whether audio recording might be too unwieldy, and so it was omitted from the final ordinance. One heard that that audio was, in fact, a “problem in search of a solution.”

It’s not.

Audio recordings would not happen in isolation; they would be a supplement to increase overall meeting details, as a supplement of already-required (and sometimes spotty) municipal minutes. The possibility was never one or the other — combined, audio and written notes would work a true synergy, rather than represent confusion. As audio recordings of all meetings would not work a repeal of written minutes, objections that audio would create confusion are mistaken; audio would enhance understanding of discussions where written notes are spotty and ambiguous.

A Community Calendar on the City’s Website. The City of Whitewater now offers a community calendar on its website. The calendar — like an ordinance on transparency — works if one follows the provisions for it. I’ve wrote about the calendar before, with a bit of surprise at its possibility, because I had doubts about whether Whitewater’s municipal administration would be able to develop and enforce fair guidelines for possible calendar notices.

The guidelines, themselves, are sound and reasonable. Now it’s up to leaders to make sure that they’re enforced fairly. These guidelines are a welcome start, one of many that will help the city’s residents.

A fair, impartial policy, defended zealously, is important to a fair and well-ordered Whitewater.

If anything, I would suggest that the community calendar appear immediately and prominently on the city’s main webpage, as a “what’s happening in town” feature.

There’s much reform yet ahead; each step in that direction deserves acknowledgement.