Agenda - 11-19-1997 - 10b - Laserfiche WebLink

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I-l' This important new initiative goes to the core function of county government - to meet the needs of the citizens that support it. By anticipating additional access through the Web, many of the upgrades described above can be done in such a way that this mode of access can be provided with only modest incremental costs. For example, most relational database management systems can provide Web access as a standard part of their systems interface. Adding such access is then largely a matter of providing appropriate HTML pages and query forms. To define and implement a policy of public access will require several steps. First, the county must establish an access policy. What information is considered to be public? What information should be made available to some individuals but not others? What departmental information should be made available internally to other departments. what information must be kept confidential and available only to appropriate departmental personnel? Second, it must put in place equipment and software (e.g., "firewalls")that can limit access to certain data to designated individuals or categories of individuals. Third, it should continue to develop the county's public Web server. This should be done by a proactive group, with input from departments, the commissioners, IS staff, the Citizens Advisory Council, and the citizens of the county. Again, a designated individual should be given responsibility for leading and coordinating this effort. Fourth, individual departments should be encouraged, where appropriate, to develop their own Web data resources. A prime example is GIS data. These data could be provided either by departmental servers and databases or through the county's central server. A large part of this task is to identify ways in which departments can share data with other departments in support of county operations. A separate but related issue is providing the County Commissioners with information -- both analytic and in document form-- in a timely and flexible manner. Given the size of the county's budget and the need for the commissioners to set policy in accord with the best information available, a modest investment in providing improved access to data and documents could result is substantial savings. Where possible,this information should be provided through the World Wide Web and in a way that requires a minimum of staff time. 6 To assist the county in the tasks described above, an ongoing Citizens Advisory Council should be established. It will help identify and order technology-related tasks, advise on performing those tasks using county personnel or through outside contracts, and review the resulting recommendations and implementation plans. It will also help keep the county's on-going development efforts focused on long-term strategic objectives. Thus, it will serve as a sounding board for the county's senior technical staff, as a technical resource, and as an advisory group to the County Commissioners. The current task force has defined a vision that can guide the on-going development of the county's computer and communications infrastructure, and it has outlined procedural steps that can lead to its realization. However, the task force believes that additional, on-going input from a small group of citizens with technical skills could assist this process. Consequently, we suggest that a Citizens Advisory Council be named that could meet, perhaps, monthly with representative from IS, the commissioners, and selected departments. Its charge could include reviewing current computer- and communications-related activities in the context of strategic objectives, reviewing plans to undertake work with county staff versus outsourcing work to vendors, providing comments on designs and implementation plans, suggesting ways in which citizen and commissioners access to data could be improved, and providing other services at the pleasure of the commissioners. We