"Council Personal Emails
Recently Council has received multiple request for city related emails that are from Council's personal email accounts. We have created an email account named Council_Public Emails. This account was created for your convenience. If you choose to use your personal email account, please forward city business related emails to this address: CPE@greensboro-nc.gov "
This is great news to see the City Manager take this step in more transparency in local government. It seems like this move was in regards to request from Kotis Propereties to get emails and text messages from Greensboro City Council members because as we have seen in the past where City Council Member Robbie Perkins was text messaging his developer side kick from the council chambers while the council meeting was going on.. We also had Greensboro City Council member Trudy Wade bust out on Greensboro City Council member Zack Matheny for text messaging Ex City Council Member Tom Phillips during a council meeting so that Zack Matheny can get his marching orders from Tom Phillips.These are just a few examples of what is going on locally but need to be more transparent.
It will be interesting to see just how many Greensboro City Council members comply with this new program and if they will start forwarding all city business from their personal accounts to this new e mail. Time for a weekly or monthly access to this email to see who is complying with this memo from the city manager.
While writing this post HAT TIP: Sue's Place CLICKHERE , who found a great link to what is going on in California, where San Jose City Council is making council meetings not have any electronic devices during a meeting or if they do use their electronic device then they need to disclose who is talking to them during council meetings because public record is a public record and receiving messages during a public meeting is fair game for wanting to know who is talking to council members during this time.
Also sue has a link to the Washington Post with a title "Lawmakers Want To Limit TXT Msgs and E-Mails"
CLICKHERE
Here is a small segment of this post.
"It was enacted months after a series of articles in the San Jose Mercury News last summer called attention to how text messaging between council members and lobbyists skirted the city's promises of open-government reform.
The law also took a lawsuit from an environmental group, which cited the California Public Records Act in suing the mayor and council for refusing to produce e-mails, text messages and other electronic communications about city business from officials' personal cell phones or other devices".
I hope this local memo from the Greensboro City Manager Rashad Young will be a part of every city , county and state law in the State of North Carolina. Also take what the San Jose City did as well to further make transparency in local government a reality.
Sunlight Foundation local spotlight post on this topic above CLICKHERE
1 comment:
Keith: Read your comment at Guarino questioning the nature of a public meeting in which members of an elected body have been invited. Answer: A public meeting is a public meeting. All members of the public are invited. The press has no special privileges. We're representatives and, more importantly, members of the public.
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