E-Government Briefs

Arlington honored for access to county's public information

The American Library Association (ALA) honored the government of Arlington County, in "Recognition of Significant Contribution to Public Access to Government Information."

The award was presented at the National Freedom of Information Day Conference, sponsored by the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center in cooperation with the ALA.

The county was honored for what is known as "the Arlington Way" - a tradition of local decision-making through a process of extensive discussion and community involvement.

"County officials have seized on the potential of the Internet to provide access to government information and, when needed in an emergency, to create on the fly the information residents require," ALA President-elect Carla D. Hayden said.

"We honor this commitment to everyday democracy' through openness and proactive sharing of information," Hayden said.

Albemarle upgrades Web site

With 80 percent of its residents regularly using its Web site, Albemarle County recently made the site more user-friendly.
Web site manager Lee Catlin said people no longer need to think like government to understand the information. As an example, a new "form-center page" includes applications, permits and reservation forms previously scattered all over the site.

Among localities with 150,000 people or fewer, the county ranks seventh in the nation in using information technology. The ranking came in the 2003 Digital Counties Survey.

The House Government Reform Committee has just published an updated edition of "A Citizen's Guide on Using the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act of 1974 to Request Government Records."

The new publication is the 11th of the guide, a popular handbook that has been "one of the most widely read congressional committee reports in history."

A copy of the June 23, 2003, "Citizen's Guide" is posted online at http://www.fas.org/sgp/foia/citizen.html

VDOT's "Dashboard Website"

The Virginia Department of Transportation came in for a lot of grief in the last couple of years, much of it deserved for its inaccurate projections of road construction schedules and available road-building funds. But it got plaudits in late winter for designing a new Internet Web site, months before required to do so by the General Assembly.

As the Richmond Times-Dispatch noted editorially, "More information is better than not enough . . . the Dashboard Website' provides information on road-construction projects throughout the Commonwealth. A stoplight color code indicates where each stands  green for on time and on budget, yellow for slightly off either, and red for seriously behind schedule or over budget."

The editorial concluded: "Transportation Commissioner Philip Shucet says he expects a lot of feedback because of the site. Here's some: Good job."

Botetourt goes on-line

Global information systems (GIS) are at the heart of e-government, allowing convenient commercial and private use of government-compiled data.

In an editorial about Botetourt County's new Web site, the Roanoke Times observed that GIS is what enables insurers, real estate agents and developers to "compile and analyze information on sewer and property lines far more easily than with cumbersome paper records residing in obscure courthouse files."

It's also what enables property owners to look up neighborhood assessments, or find someone's home for a Saturday night bridge game.

As the Times noted, "the very ease and anonymity of access is what makes the Internet so appealing (and what causes) abuse of information by disgruntled individuals trying to find teachers or law enforcement officers, or by mass-marketers or identity thieves."

Because of concerns about identity thieves, documents containing Social Security numbers were kept off the Botetourt site.

SCC case documents go online

The State Corporation Commission went online in late March with a "Case Docket Search" portal, offering easy public access to all its public-document filings.

Web-based technology also is being used to invite public comment on issues that arise in SCC cases.

Each year, the SCC handles about 1,200 cases, conducts nearly 150 hearings and receives more than 8,000 documents in those cases. The SCC has been posting orders to the Web site since 1996, but these have been limited to selected cases of general public interest.

A new case management computer system installed last year converts all documents filed in a case to an electronic file. Now, the SCC is opening that system to the public via the SCC Web site at http://www.state.va.us/scc/caseinfo.htm
In cases where the public is invited to submit comments, the SCC's new feature makes it easy for anyone with Web access to complete a case-specific comment form at http://www.state.va.us/scc/caseinfo/notice.htm

Written public comments can continue to be filed by mail.