Glenview’s Overnight Transparency Improvements
The achievements with Glenview, School District 54, and other government agencies demonstrates how easy improving transparency can be.
by Rhys Seiffe
Following the success with School District 54 in Schaumburg Township, the Institute launched theLocal Transparency Project in New Trier Township by auditing 24 different government units including the Villages of Wilmette, Glenview, Kenilworth, Winnetka, Northfield and Glencoe.
Although the average score was low, great strides have already been made in improving overall transparency in the township. Specifically, Glenview has been immensely responsive and proactive in partnering with the Institute to improve its numbers. In less than 24 hours, Glenview dramatically increased its transparency score by making several small, simple changes to its website. It digitized and posted budgets, internal audits, its membership in lobbying organizations and other important transparency elements which previously had only been available in paper form. Furthermore, the Village redesigned certain web pages, simplified forms, created new hyperlinks, and made certain information in the municipal code more accessible. Taken together, these small changes have made Glenview one of the most transparent government organizations in all of Illinois.
Glenview Village Trustee and Illinois Policy Institute Liberty Leader Paul Detlefs said this about the transparency process:
“We believe we are pretty open and transparent in Glenview, but it was interesting to have an outside, independent view. In this era of technology, part of transparency is just making many of the things you are already doing more accessible to the public. We have additional work to do, but we were able to improve our score significantly by just posting some of the paper reports we already prepare to our website, and making some things easier to find.”
The Institute will continue working with Glenview and all other government agencies in New Trier Township to improve transparency. The final results of the Local Transparency Project will be released in the second week of July.
The achievements with Glenview, School District 54, and other government agencies demonstrates how easy improving transparency can be. In many cases, transparency can be significantly improved by making a few changes to websites, or by uploading already public information. The Institute encourages all government agencies across the state to work with us to improve their transparency scores. It really can be done overnight.