Two Multipart Series in January

ESO has, unfortunately, posted a very small number of articles during the past 6 months.  In part, this has been a side effect of our efforts to provide detailed information about our local candidates during the 2013 election cycle.  We had hoped to conduct a Community Forum where the public and the candidates could have a civil discussion of concerns, issues, and potential solutions.  We simply didn't have enough time to do it right and so we chose to publish a Local Candidate Questionnaire.  We've received very positive feedback and hope that the information was helpful to those who voted.  We're starting now to organize a Community Forum for our next local elections!

For our first multipart series we've researched the subject of Essex County Law Enforcement/Public Safety and Preparedness.  Topics will include: our Volunteer Fire Department, our hybrid Emergency Medical/Rescue and Transportation Department, Law Enforcement Agencies (the Sheriff's Department, Town Police, Animal Control, and Emergency Services) and Public Health and Safety (the Health Department, environmental concerns, and the hazardous materials in our community).  That series of articles will begin in January.

The second multipart series will be the Annual Essex County Openness and Transparency Reports which summarizes the progress achieved by the Board of Supervisors, The School Board, and the Airport Authority during 2013.

 

Also in January we'll start covering the newly energized Essex County Industrial Development Authority (IDA); soon be renamed the Economic Development Authority (EDA).  The EDA's new mission statement will place increased emphasis on local business retention and expansion while continuing to engage in the traditional recruitment of new businesses, the improvement of the local business climate (local laws, regulations, zoning, taxes, incentives, etc.), promoting both local retail businesses and local tourism.

Lastly, we have been investigating a multijurisdictional topic which includes our community.  We've served numerous FOIA Requests, filled several three inch binders with research notes and documents, and have compiled numerous spreadsheets of data, pages of photographs, and several maps.  This is a long term project that we hope to report on later this year.

Please continue visiting this EssexSunshine.Org blog for the latest in our efforts to encourage more open, transparent, and efficient (the measure of community benefits and services in relation to the cost of providing benefits and services) governance in Essex County.

John Clickener - Publisher

Full Access to Board Agendas

The Board of Supervisors/County Administrator and the School Board/Superintendent have jointly implemented full internet access to their Agenda backup documents.  This is a breakthrough for openness and replaces years of darkness.  Both Boards are using the same system called BoardDocs which reduces costs, improves efficiency, and demonstrates that collaboration between the two Boards benefits the Citizens of Essex County.

As attendees at the Board Meetings are aware, over the past 2 years both Boards began posting their agendas on their websites.  The backup documents for each meeting include their consent agendas, resolutions, and other items that are to be discussed and considered.  Those documents have always been provided, in the form of printed documents, to the Board Members prior to each meeting.  The Virginia Open Meeting Law requires that those same documents be made accessible to the public.  Both Boards, to their credit, have provided a folder of the backup information, excluding privacy matters (personnel, legal, disciplinary), at the office of each respective Board Clerk.  Very few citizens, including me, found the time to go to the clerks' offices and review the information before each Board Meeting.

The School Board began using a software application calleed BoardDocs 3 months ago.  The Board of Supervisors will implement BoardDocs at the January 2014 meeting.  If you want to be well informed about issues prior to Board Meetings you will be able to access, prior to Board Meetings, the same information that the Supervisors and School Board Members review from your computer, tablet, or smart phone with internet access.

In addition to greater openness and improved public access to important information, the use of electronic documents saves thousands of dollars spent on paper, toner, binders, file cabinets, document disposal, and clerical time each year.

Both Boards and their information staffs are also looking toward the future and evaluating a potentially better meeting software system.  Similar to BoardDocs, the system under study could provide more flexible and faster agenda preparation plus it would permit videos of each Board Meeting to be viewed by the public on demand.  School Board Meetings are already being recorded on digital video so the additional open access and transparency will be essentially at no additional cost.

ESO is pleased to see the two Boards, their Administrator/Superintendent, and the staffs initiate joint projects which improve productivity, provide significantly greater services to our citizens, and SAVE MONEY because of their collaboration.

John Clickener - Publisher