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Common Cause to Honor 90 Cities and Towns for Posting Key Governance Records on their Websites
BOSTON – Common Cause Massachusetts will host an event at the State House to honor 90 communities that have posted six important local governance documents on their websites, Tuesday, March 18th, at 1:00 in room B-2. Representatives from each community will be presented with the 2008 E-Government Award.
The event is part of Common Cause’s on-going Massachusetts Campaign for Open Government, which periodically reviews the internet presence of all 351 cities and towns in the state. The current audit of all municipal websites in the Commonwealth will be released at the event. The first assessment in 2006 found that only 24 municipalities -- or about 7 percent -- have all 6 key records posted on-line. The six documents included in the review are the municipality's governing body’s agenda, the governing body’s minutes, fiscal year 2008 budget information, the municipality’s bylaws, code or ordinances, and if applicable, town meeting warrant and town meeting results or minutes.
A list of towns to be honored include:Amherst,Andover, Arlington, Ashburnham, Barnstable, Becket, Bedford, Belmont, Bolton,Boston,Brookline, Cambridge, Carver, Chelmsford, Chelsea, Concord,Dedham, Dudley, Douglas, Dunstable, Duxbury, Eastham, Easton, Egermont, Everett,Falmouth, Fitchburg, Framingham, Franklin, Gloucester, Groton,Haverhill,Harwich, Hingham, Holden, Holliston, Hopkinton, Hudson,Kingston,Lakeville, Lexington, Littleton, Longmeadow,Manchester-by-the-Sea, Melrose, Metheun, Needham, Newton, Norfolk, North Andover, North Reading, Northampton, Palmer, Paxton, Peabody, Pelham, Plympton,Provincetown, Reading, Salem, Saugus, Scituate, Sharon, Shrewsbury, Somerville,Southampton, Southwick, Spencer,
Springfield, Stow, Sudbury,Tewsksbury,Topsfield, Upton, Uxbridge, West Boyleston, West Springfield, Westfield,Westford, Weston, Westport, Weymouth, Wilbraham, Williamstown, Winchester,Winthrop, Woburn, Worcester, Wretham.
“It’s time to bring local government into the 21st century,” said Common Cause executive director Pam Wilmot. “The internet makes it easy and cost effective to facilitate public access and citizen engagement by, at a minimum, posting these six key records. More and more people rely on the internet for critical information each day. Communities that provide this information are providing an important service to their citizens.”
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