Those interested in the finances and spending of Sedgwick County now have more information available.
The county checkbook website is at Sedgwick County checkbook. I’ve looked at it, and like a lot of these things, it takes a little practice and experimentation to find what you want.
This marks a big step forward in Sedgwick County government transparency. Chris Chronis, Chief Financial Officer for the county, is to be commended.
Other things the county does well is promptly posting the video and review of commission meetings. It’s 3:45 pm now, and already these items for this morning’s commission meeting are available. The minutes of the commission meetings, which are a verbatim transcript of the proceedings, take longer to prepare. As of now, the latest meeting for which minutes are available is the June 3, 2009 meeting.
The next step the county could easily take is to post the “agenda packet” or “green sheets” for commission meetings. This is the detailed information about the items to be considered at the meeting. This packet can be hundreds of pages long. The City of Wichita does a good job — maybe too good– in this regard, as this week’s packet was 652 pages.
For now, the county commission agenda packets are available only in printed form, which means a trip to the courthouse or a delay for mailing.
Reporting in the Wichita Eagle is at You can view Sedgwick County’s checkbook online.
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