The newsroom also asked officials connected to those government bodies for their own take on openness.
FNP observation: The Frederick County Council generally meets on Tuesdays. The agenda is usually posted on the county website the preceding Wednesday. Agendas are easily accessed online, and the county keeps an online archive of old agendas.
Topics for agendas can be vague. For instance, on its most recent agenda, the council planned to vote on appointments to three committees. However, the names of the individuals slated to be approved to the committees are not immediately accessible, without clicking a link leading to another document. Online users can easily figure this out, but it’s not clear for the print version.
Links included in the online version of agendas sometimes lead to entire bill packets with the history of legislation and comprehensive descriptions. The council mails these documents if requested. The public can sign up to get links to agendas by email.
From the county: The county government does a good job of informing the public and being transparent, said Ragen Cherney, the County Council’s legislative director and chief of staff, particularly since charter government is still in its infancy.
The public sees the finished agenda, posted online and with links to background materials, the same time council members do, Cherney said.
When a bill is introduced to the council, a draft version is already posted online, Cherney said. Three days later, the bill will be posted, with its formal number, a fiscal note and other materials.
FNP observation: The city ranks well overall in notice time and clarity for meeting agendas. Agendas for the mayor and Board of Aldermen public hearings are typically posted on the city website two weeks in advance. Agendas for other city boards and commissions, along with the mayor and aldermen workshop sessions, might be posted two weeks in advance, or it might be a few days. In clarity and backup documents, the city does an outstanding job. Each agenda item is categorized by type — consent item, item for public hearing, officials’ comments — making it easy for the audience to follow along.
For public hearing items, online agendas include a link to backup information. Paper copies of those documents are often available at meetings, as well.
From the city: Mayor Randy McClement said he has strived to publicize agendas for mayor and Board of Aldermen public hearings two weeks prior to the meeting. He called that the right balance between public awareness and time for city employees to compile necessary information.
He noted the importance of consistency, so residents know when to expect and start looking for information.
McClement pointed to the city’s current efforts to revamp its website as an example of its commitment to transparency. Changes to make the website more user-friendly will include more visibility for meeting agendas and times, he said.
Still, McClement sees room for improvement. “There’s always ways to learn from other places,” he said.
Board of Education
FNP observation: The staff usually gets the agenda out about six days before a board meeting.
From the school system: School board President Brad Young said the school system does “a good job” of letting the public know about meetings and agendas between Find Out First email notifications and the school system’s BoardDocs page.
Two types of people are interested in school board meetings, Young said — those who are always interested and those interested when a specific topic affects them. “I think once you know where to go, it’s very easy to find,” he said.
FNP observation: The agenda lists public hearing subjects and other business, with short explanations, and whether a vote is expected. There are links to all backup documents, and minutes on Brunswick’s website after the meetings.
From the city: Mayor Karin Tome said she sets the agenda and distributes a copy with backup documents to the five council members the Friday before a Tuesday meeting. A detailed agenda and backup documents are usually posted online Friday.
FNP observation: Burkittsville rarely has an itemized agenda more than 12 hours before the meeting. There is little explanation of the topics. There is no easy access to minutes and backup documents.
The town website tells the public the dates and times of upcoming meetings, but there is not a formal agenda until the meeting.
The quarterly Burkittsville Bugle newsletter lists topics that will be and have been discussed.
From the town: In an email, Mayor Debby Burgoyne wrote that she shares agendas in advance, but “not as far as I should.”
She wrote that the town tries to get information out through a newsletter, a Web page, Facebook and a town bulletin board. “We sometimes deliver flyers door to door,” she wrote.
FNP observation: At each meeting, town commissioners agree on the next meeting’s agenda, and town staff post it online the next day. As a result, agendas are available online about a month before the next meeting.
On the Thursday before the meeting, town employees release an agenda packet to the commissioners and to the public through the town website. The packet includes draft ordinances, the treasurer’s report, minutes from the last meeting and other supplementary items related to the agenda.
The town office now provides paper copies of meeting packets. Online, town staff update a brief overview of the agenda each month, briefly listing items such as “Pool contract” and “New website presentation,” alongside the full packet in PDF form.
Documents related to agenda items are posted online and available at the town office.
From the town: Town Manager Dave Haller said the town wasn’t always this organized; there have been big changes since he started 18 years ago.
“One, we didn’t have a website. Two, you couldn’t pick the stuff up at the town office,” Haller said.
FNP observation: The town does well on advance notice and agenda clarity. But sometimes, agendas aren’t complete until a few days before the meeting. And sometimes, agenda items aren’t well explained — for example, “Wayfinding signs.”
From the town: Drew Bowen, Middletown’s town administrator, said getting information out to residents and businesses is the toughest part of the job. The town tries through multiple channels to let people know about town council meetings, including the town website and an email listserv.
“You have to be living in a hole and not paying attention to not know when a meeting is,” Bowen said.
“I don’t know anything more the town can do other than knocking on everybody’s door and telling them when a town council meeting is,” he said.
Those who look at meeting agendas online will see the documents relevant to that meeting included.
“They see exactly the same information the board sees on their iPads,” Bowen said.
Bowen said the town gets requests to add to meeting agendas, which means they aren’t usually finalized until a few days before the meeting. The town weighs having agenda information available in advance with making people wait until the next council meeting.
“That’s a balancing act — there’s no doubt,” he said.
FNP observation: Mount Airy posts agendas online a week before its meetings. All documents, including the town code, reports and previous meeting agendas, are posted online, as well. Printed copies of documents are made available for those who attend the meetings.
From the town: Debbie Parker Brennan, Mount Airy’s town clerk, said many trees have lost their lives in the name of Mount Airy’s transparency. The town has a large older population that may not search for things online, so the town feels the need to accommodate them.
“I think we do the best we can with what we have,” she said.
FNP observation: Agendas are shared about two weeks in advance. Agendas, minutes and audio recordings of meetings are online. During the meeting, accompanying documents are displayed on a TV screen for those present and there is one hard copy provided. The press gets the accompanying documents about a week before each meeting. Items on the agenda could provide a little more information.
The municipality also holds public workshops and posts audio recordings from those online.
From the town: Mayor Wayne Creadick Jr. said that since he took office in 2001, transparency has gotten better in terms of posting things online. Previously, the only way someone knew what happened at town meetings was to attend or ask Town Clerk Kathy Gaver.
”There’s no reason the government shouldn’t be transparent,” Creadick said. “I think with the size of our community, we’re trying to do the best we can. ... It’s tough and you question it. We’re doing all these things and the room isn’t full.”
Town Manager Kristin Aleshire said hard copies of documents used to be available at meetings, but only reporters used them. Now, reporters get electronic copies.
FNP observation: Agendas for mayor and council meetings usually come out around three days in advance. They have brief descriptions of the topics. Agendas are posted on the town’s Facebook page and website.
“NMVFD-CONCRETE PAD” has been on the agenda for the town council for months, with little discussion of it during the meetings and no further description of what it means. (It refers to an area behind the fire station.)
From the town: Town Clerk Karen Durbin said residents can call in if they have questions. Agenda items are broad because no one has asked for more explanation. Documents are rarely made available unless the topic is a pressing issue, she said.
“If someone wants to know something, they’re more than welcome to call in and we’ll tell them,” she said.
FNP observation: Agendas are prepared a week ahead and are online. Descriptions of topics are spare. All documents are posted online, too.
The village of Rosemont, with fewer than 100 households, owns no property and has expenses only for trash service, speed enforcement and mowing the Brunswick Lions Club property where it has its meetings.
The village commission is scheduled to meet six times a year, and may skip meetings, if there is nothing for an agenda.
From the village: Rosemont Burgess Tom Watson emails a copy of the agenda or a notice of canceled meetings a week ahead to every village resident, reporters and anyone who asks, if he has an email address. “I’ve got a pretty long list,” he said.
Trash and the annual budget of about $44,000 are the two regular topics, but the commission sometimes discusses items not on the agenda that the public raises. The agenda usually has two-word descriptions such as “treasurer report” or “trash contract.”
“I just list what it’s going to be about,” Watson said. “It’s pretty much the same all the time. There’s nothing new in Rosemont.”
FNP observation: Thurmont typically shares its weekly agenda on the Friday or Monday before a Tuesday meeting. It is distributed on an email listserv.
The town does not offer or provide documents to town residents or the media unless requested. A News-Post reporter typically requests documents prior to each meeting, but often receives electronic copies a few hours before, and paper copies at the meeting or even the following morning if no copies are available. Not having access to the documents at the meeting can be challenging, since town officials often cite specific page numbers or phrases on documents.
The town has recently updated its video and streaming services. Officials can now pull up documents on a projector, allowing attendees and viewers at home to see the documents.
For clarity of items on the agenda, Thurmont does fairly well. The agenda usually lays out the topic, as well as what is going to be discussed, such as bid approval for building basketball courts at two local parks.
From the town: Jim Humerick, the town’s chief administrative officer, said the municipality excels at sharing agendas prior to town meetings. He noted that the agenda is typically sent to all interested parties and advertised on the town’s Facebook page and local municipal channel.
“We do a good job getting it out,” Humerick said. “It may not be quite as far in advance as other municipalities, but we get it out as quick as we can.”
He said the clarity of topics on agendas is “generic enough,” providing residents with enough information to understand the issue and level of discussion.
He acknowledged that the town typically does not share all documents, but noted that information is available upon request. Items with more community interest or involving large changes, such as the overhauled zoning ordinance, are usually posted on the town website and made available to residents.
FNP observation: Walkersville sometimes publishes agendas the same day as the meetings of the burgess and commissioners, rarely with any documents or explanations for agenda items.
From the town: Town Manager Gloria Rollins said town officials are not required to submit items for the agenda until the Friday before the meetings, which are held on Wednesdays. Town staff spends the next few days organizing those submissions into the agenda. “That’s just the pace we run at,” she said.
A reporter commented to Rollins on Tuesday that there was little explanation for agenda items for the next day’s burgess and commissioners meeting. On Wednesday morning, she emailed the reporter an updated version with one-line explanations for each item.
Note: The town of Woodsboro was not included in this project.
©2016 The Frederick News-Post (Frederick, Md.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.