Online presence critical to municipal transparency
SASKATOON This fall, the Saskatoon Starphoenix and Regina Leader-post emailed every city, town, village, resort village, northern municipality and rural municipality in Saskatchewan to request the same set of public documents.
The goal of the Fees May Apply enterprise was to gather information and to test transparency. Many provided the documents for free, but others charged an array of fees.
When Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner Ron Kruzeniski looks at the data from the Starphoenix/leader-post investigation into local government transparency, he sees the need for modernization.
He was pleased by the response rate, but Kruzeniski is also aware that — especially in smaller jurisdictions — it’s crucial to foster a better understanding of the need to ensure all government work is performed with transparency in mind.
“What it tells me is that my work is cut out for me,” he said of the investigation. “It sets out the challenge.”
The information and privacy commissioner has been sharing his concerns on transparency and
modernization for some time. He says his office sees smaller municipal organizations struggle to meet their duty to follow legislation about open government.
Of the 1,200 calls for advice his office receives each year, he says a “good portion” are in relation to smaller governments.
The Fees May Apply exercise showed a wide range of fees being charged for access to local government documents. Kruzeniski calls the $2,200 charge issued by the R.M. of Wallace “absolutely ridiculous.”
Under the current Local Authority Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (LA FOIP), fees can be set for inspection of records. The idea is that fees “keep a degree of discipline to the situation,” the commissioner says, and are not to intended to create roadblocks. He encourages a balanced approach.
He also points out that even before LA FOIP, local governments were instructed to make their meeting agendas public. Twenty years ago, that meant having them available in an office. Today, it should mean having them in electronic form on a website. At the time of the Starphoenix/ Leader-post’s investigation, 428 municipalities — 55 per cent — had websites. Of those websites, 57 per cent had minutes posted online.
“We were encouraged by the number that have websites,” Kruzeniski said of the data gathered in the transparency project. “Now that percentage needs to improve.”
He has proposed the provincial government update its legislation to allow or require local governments to put forms and documents up on digital platforms.
“In our digital world, openness can be enhanced by posting these documents to a municipality’s website. I would propose that the section be amended to provide a municipality with an alternative to an inspection and making copies to posting these documents to its website,” Kruzeniski wrote in a letter to the Minister of Government Relations.
Other suggestions include ensuring the mayor or reeve acknowledge their role as authority on LA FOIP, and that administrators inform councils of the legislative duties under the act.
Kruzeniski has issued reports about some smaller governments that have repeatedly resisted efforts to have information released. For example, the RM of Blaine Lake has been cited seven times for failing to release documents.
The Village of Pinehouse faced an independent inspection after indicating that no records for 2009 and 2010 existed for council minutes of meetings during which authorizations to dispense with financial information were passed.
It also indicated that the village’s business development corporation board minutes, which would contain similar information, did not exist.
Training and educational programs for local governments are key, Kruzeniski says. Larger organizations benefit — as do their citizens — when there are dedicated freedom of information and privacy staff. With only one or just a few staff members at some local government offices, FOIP work can legitimately seem onerous.
“I would rather be in the role of working with knowledgeable people,” Kruzeniski said.