Open Government ... What a Concept!

The following piece was developed as a ‘press communiqué’ for the 2018 mayoral campaign of a local politician. It highlights, in very simple terms, what the concept of “open government” is all about.  When it was scheduled to be released, after the 2018 Labour Day weekend, it was already obvious that the candidate would win the election. Accordingly, the communiqué was never released. Why? Well, this is only conjecture but my belief is that since ‘open government’ imposes a number of obligations on ‘the governors’, it was considered to be an unnecessary (and unwanted) complication for the new administration.

Lately, it seems that politicians, pundits, academics and social activists have discovered the idea of "open government". A reasonable definition of the concept is offered by the City of Toronto that has established an impressive pilot project. "Open Government" is about improving the delivery of services, making information more accessible and supporting initiatives that build public trust in government. It is guided by four principles of transparency, participation, accountability, and accessibility. All said and done, "open government" is simply a new expression of a very old principle - that citizens have the right to know about and participate in decisions that affect them.

Why is 'open government' important to the people of Burlington? Well, it can be arqued that our City government is anything but 'open' and that it only pays lip service to authentic citizen engagement - goes through the motions but does what it had already decided to do. Do you feel that you have been heard? Do you know who is making the decisions about how your services will be delivered? Do you know how well the services are being delivered? Do you know what information should be available to you by right and without charge? Do you know how much your Councillor or the Mayor or the City Clerk spent on things that were reimbursed by you, the taxpayer? Do you know how many citizen complaints were levied against City staff and the outcomes? Do you know how many lawsuits were filed against the city, how many staff left or were fired for cause, how many closed meetings were conducted by Council and the reasons? If the answer to any of these questions is 'no', then you should be concerned.

And 'open government' is not just about knowing what is happening, it is about participating in the process and being a meaningful partner in decisions that affect you. When I am elected the Mayor of Burlington on October 22nd, I will be introducing a new day of transparent, accountable, accessible City government. Details of this program will be announced in the very near future.

There was a second press release with very detailed commitments scheduled for either late September 2018 or after Thanksgiving. It met the same fate as the first and, conceivably, for exactly the same reasons.

Candidate for Burlington Mayor, Marianne Meed Ward, proclaimed her intention to throw open the shutters at City Hall and let the light shine in. Ms. Meed Ward said that she would institute an 'open government' program in Burlington. "Open Government", she announced, is a framework for citizen-centred awareness and involvement in City Hall business. It's all about improving the delivery of services, making information more accessible and supporting initiatives that build public trust. It flows from increased transparency of Council decision-making, more meaningful citizen participation, increased accountability by both Council and staff, and improved accessibility. She said that "fundamentally, "open government" is simply a new expression of a very old principle - that citizens have the right to know about and participate in decisions that affect them.

For too long, she believes, this basic right has not been observed as it should be in Burlington. She characterized current City Hall culture as entitled, opaque and control-oriented with senior staff who are often inaccessible, dismissive of public opinion and possessed of something approaching a siege mentality. "All this will begin to change on October 23rd" she said. "My 'open government' initiative will have many elements and I will be pleased to outline the complete framework over the next xx weeks. However, I would like to highlight five features of the program that I believe reflect how fundamentally things will change;

-First, we will be introducing a new, simplified, more interactive Council meeting protocol. No longer will meetings be controlled by arcane process and unelected representatives. Delegations will be respected and heard. And twice each year, the agenda of Council will be established by the citizens themselves and will deal with the things that they would most like changed or improved. That is true "engagement" and it is based on respect.

Next, we will undertake to make Burlington City Hall one of the most transparent and accountable in the Province. We will introduce a Registry of individuals or groups that meet with Councillors in advance of a decision in order to further a particular viewpoint or interest. Senior staff will also be required to record such contact. We will also institute a staff directory so you know who provides your service and whom you need to contact. Our organizational and program delivery structure will be clearly visible.

Third we will establish customer service as a bell weather of my administration with a Customer Service Accountability Officer established as a key executive position reporting directly to me. We will publish our service metrics and will provide simple, direct and easy-to-use feedback mechanisms. There will be a complaints and comments process that is open and visible to all. We will also simplify our regulatory processes, our planning and permitting structure, for example, to ease the burden on small businesses and individuals.

Next, we will institute a performance management dashboard, a portal on our website, that provides a clear and easily understood way for citizens to judge now well the City is meeting key deliverables and goals. We will publish all meaningful indicators of our organizational "health" and we will open up our engagement model including the budget consultation process. We will listen, we will hear you and we will report back on what we did.

Finally, I intend to make the City of Burlington an open government Centre of Excellence with the creation of a 'best practice' pilot program. As the Lead Municipality, we will promote the development of a Halton Region pilot program and will partner with key academic and citizen organizations to inform and shape key components and deliverables. An important part of this initiative will be to refocus and re-mandate our citizen advisory committee structure including a new Open Government Citizen's Advisory Committee, a new Waterfront Advisory Committee, a Community Benefits Advisory Committee and a XXX"

Ms. Meed Ward was quick to recognize Burlington's critical program staff. She said "I intend to empower our front-line staff, who are amongst the most capable of any municipality and amongst the most committed to serving citizens. We need to remove the 'red tape' and free them from unnecessary process and excessive constraints so that they can do their job.