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Home My WebLink AboutAgenda - 04-04-2017 - 4-a - 2017 Sunshine Award by N.C. Open Government Coalition 1 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: April 4, 2017 Action Agenda Item No. 4-a SUBJECT: 2017 Sunshine Award from North Carolina Open Government Coalition DEPARTMENT: Clerk to the Board, Community Relations, County Attorney, County Manager, Finance and Administrative Services, and Information Technologies ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: 1) Sunshine Award Nomination Email Todd McGee, Director, Community 2) Press Release Relations, (919) 245-2302 PURPOSE: To receive the 2017 Sunshine Award from North Carolina Open Government Coalition recognizing Orange County for its efforts to achieve the transparency goals of the Board of Commissioners and County administration. BACKGROUND: The N.C. Open Government Coalition sponsors an annual Sunshine Awards ceremony to honor people and organizations whose work helps keep the public informed about their governments. The coalition honors one outstanding journalist, one government employee or organization, and one advocate for transparency each year. The awards have been given out since 2015. Orange County is the first county government to be recognized in the Government category. A representative from the N.C. Open Government Coalition will present the award to the Board of Commissioners. Orange County was chosen because of its efforts to provide information online to ease access for the general public. Those services have continually expanded as technology has evolved. In November 2016, Orange County created a new online financial data reporting tool. This online database makes county financial information available to the public on the Orange County website (www.orangecountync.gov/transparency). Meeting agendas, contracts, the County budget, Board of County Commissioner's "OCBOCC" emails, audit reports and on-demand video recordings of County Commissioner's meetings are also available through the website. FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no financial impact associated with this item. 2 SOCIAL JUSTICE IMPACT: There is no Orange County Social Justice Goal applicable to this item. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board accept the 2017 Sunshine Award from North Carolina Open Government Coalition and express appreciation to staff who contributed to the County achieving this recognition. 3 Attachment 1 From: David Hunt Sent: Monday, February 27, 2017 4:13 PM To: ncopengov @elon.edu Cc: Todd McGee; Donna Baker Subject: Sunshine Award Nomination Sunshine Award nomination for Orange County Government Submitted by David Hunt, Deputy Clerk/ Information Specialist, Orange County, NC 919-245-2126, dhunt @orangecountync.gov Orange County, NC considers itself on the forefront of providing government information to the public. As much as possible, the County has attempted to provide public records and information online thus reducing the need for formal public records requests. Those services have continually expanded as technology has evolved. One of the newest features is the financial portal. In November 2016, Orange County created a new online financial data reporting tool.This online database makes county financial information available to the public on the Orange County website (www.orangecountync.gov/transparency). Residents can see how their tax dollars are being used through almost real-time data at a department level.The tool features easy-to-navigate graphics with data organized by category, department, function, fund and vendor. Below is just a sampling of other items available online: - Agendas - Contracts - Budget - Board of County Commissioner's "OCBOCC" emails - Audit Reports - On demand video recordings of County Commissioner's meetings (over 40 meetings totaling 125 hours in 2016) A special "Transparency" page, provided via the County Commissioners' section of the website, allows quick access to popular transparency items. www.orangecountync.gov/transparency In 2014 a unique "sunshine" logo was created to highlight sunshine items. That same year tweets called "Sunshine Tips" were provided to the public through the County Twitter account(see attached sample). Those continue today. 4 Oran!a County NC Gov r ,, a „1f. ..n/Ic:. Sunshine Tip 31 — Orange County Goveriment contracts are online. yy y ry� qq�� -�� , yy � X'Y1.. Y SPRY U il..,0 r�ra oo(,1 t..�� K�A.r `f��' 00 Xf_l ruf f10r1'ti a� � � N iq Lk; This has been a team effort involving multiple departments in Orange County Government with special thanks to the following offices: - County Manager - County Attorney - Community Relations - Finance and Administrative Services - Information Technologies - Clerk to the Board Thanks for your consideration, David Hunt Deputy Clerk/ Information Specialist Orange County, NC 919-245-2126 2017 Sunshine Award Winners Page 1 of 1 Attachment 2 5 2017 Sunshine Award Winners The winners of the N.C. Open Government Coalition's third annual Sunshine Awards were announced at Sunshine Day on Elon University's campus Monday. The winners are WFAE associate news director Lisa Worf, Elon law fellow Elliot Engstrom and Orange County Government. The N.C. Open Government Coalition announced the winners of its 2017 Sunshine Awards Monday in Elon at the organizations annual Sunshine Day event. The awards are intended to honor people and organizations whose work helps keep citizens informed about what their governments are up to. The coalition honors one outstanding journalist,government employee or organization, and an advocate for transparency each year. In some years a citizen award is also given out. One was not awarded in 2017. The winner of the 2017 Sunshine Award for journalism is Lisa Worf,WFAE associate news director.Worf was nominated for her ongoing reporting on a new law that took effect in 2016 governing how police video is made available to the public.The law exempted video from the public records law and created a new process through the courts for determining whether or not it should be released.Worf was one of the first people in the state to test the new process to gain access to a video of a police shooting. From preparing to file a petition with the court, to arguing against attorneys representing the police department and district attorneys office,Worf took her audience with her through the journey.After initially being denied,Worf eventually convinced a court to release the video. The winner of the 2017 Sunshine Award for advocacy goes to Elliot Engstrom,fellow at the Elon University School of Law. Prior to joining the law school, Engstrom was an attorney at the Civitas Institute's Center for Law and Freedom. It was in that role that he took up, pro bono, the case of Ellen Deitz Tucker who was trying to get information from the city of Belmont in Gaston County related to her sister's death. Engstrom represented Tucker in a lawsuit against the city over its refusal to release a report on the police department that was prepared by a private investigative agency on the city's behalf. In August, the court ruled that significant portions of the report are public record and must be released. The winner of the 2017 Sunshine Award for government is Orange County Government on the basis of its efforts to move information online to ease access. In November 2016, Orange County launched a new transparency site that allows users to easily find such things as budgets,financial audits, email sent to county commissioners, contracts, expenditures, planning permits, and streaming video of meetings. By creating a portal for easier access to these important records, Orange County is proactively making records available before a public records request is necessary. Jonathan Jones, Staff 3/13/2017 8:50 AM http://www.elon.edu/e-net/Article/145315 3/15/2017