Sunshine Review: Kane Website Rates 'A+' For Transparency

is ranked among the best in Illinois for its transparency and proactive disclosure, according to an independent analysis released this week.

Virginia-based Sunshine Review, a non-profit wiki site that monitors and evaluates government information efforts nationally, has issued Kane County's website a transparency grade of A+, said County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay.

McConnaughay said she asked Sunshine Review to re-evaluate the county's website (countyofkane.org) in light of recent changes and additions designed to make county government more transparent and accessible. Kane County unveiled its newly-designed website April 11, following a labor-intensive updating process that spanned nearly two years.

"A great deal of time and effort was spent developing the website from the back end so the thousands of pieces of information we have available can be located more easily," said McConnaughay. "This is a huge move in the right direction. I can't think of much (information) that isn't on there."

Updating the technology and expanding the content of the website was among the goals and objectives set by the County Board in response to the Strategic Plan for Kane County adopted in 2006.

Counties like Kane "deserve recognition for making information available to citizens and for setting a transparency standard that all governments can, and should, meet,” said Mike Barnhart, President of Sunshine Review (sunshinereview.org). “Access to information empowers every citizen to hold government officials accountable. Official accountability is the cornerstone of self government and liberty,” said Barnhart.  

Since its inception in 2008, Sunshine Review has analyzed the governmental transparency websites of all fifty states and 6,000 local governments. Grading takes into account the proactive disclosure of information regarding budgets, meetings, elected and administrative officials, permits and zoning, audits, contracts, lobbying, public records, and taxes, as well as the ease of use and availability of information.

Sunshine Review collaborates with individuals and organizations across the United States to promote state and local transparency.

Read more:

http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/Kane_County,_Illinois

This information comes from a Kane County press release.