Sedgwick County Commission asked to make more meeting information available

by Bob Weeks on October 7, 2009

Today citizen Susan Morse of Bentley addressed the Sedgwick County Commission, asking that additional information about commission meetings be made available on the county’s website.

At the Wichita City Council, this information is called the “agenda report,” or the “packet,” or sometimes the “green sheets.” This is the detailed information about agenda items, such as staff analysis, maps, diagrams, contracts, proposed ordinances, and the like. The City of Wichita has been placing this information online for several years. There have been some meetings where the packet contained over 600 pages of material.

The fact that the county doesn’t make the agenda report easily available online is an omission that the county could easily and inexpensively correct. This is especially important because sometimes big issues are announced in a small way on the agenda. Earlier this year, the county’s plan to spend millions on an industrial park, with far-reaching implications, was announced on the agenda only as “LAND PURCHASE CONTRACT — Presented by Chris Chronis, CFO.”

Thank you to Susan Morse for taking the time to appear before the county commission, looking out for the interest of citizens.

(I apologize for the portion of missing video.)

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Tagged as: Government transparency, Sedgwick county government

{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Susan Estes October 7, 2009 at 5:04 pm: Way to go Susan! Wish I could have been there.
2 John Todd October 7, 2009 at 5:43 pm: Great work Susan! Thank you for doing heavy lifting for the citizens of Sedgwick County.
3 Wichitator October 8, 2009 at 3:52 pm: More information is better than less. It was great to have a citizen without any special interest speak out about having a government body provide more clarity and data for the taxpaying public.

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