Success Stories:

Gaining Access to My Government, My Way

With the forthcoming presidential elections, controversy and rhetoric seem to be the common theme regardless of which camp you’re in. Many feel like their point of view and values are no longer represented by elected officials in Washington. Some are wondering what ever happened to the “government by the people and for the people?”

Although this concept started with the founding fathers, its theme is woven throughout the fabric of this great nation. When Abraham Lincoln delivered his poignant Gettysburg Address, he included a statement that, for many, summarized the role of the American government; to provide a form of government that was of the people, by the people, and for the people. History records that the actions of citizens have kept this dream alive for more than 200 years and has served as the basis for meeting and solving difficult challenges.

Today, we face a new set of trying challenges and the need for citizen involvement is greater than ever. More than merely casting one’s vote, today’s challenges require that citizens learn the facts, make their voices heard at public hearings, track the voting record of their elected officials, and become informed citizens. The decisions we make today will directly dictate the world we pass along to future generations.

Yet the process of getting involved with government and getting heard can be tedious, time consuming and difficult. Obtaining public documents, voting records of elected officials, and keeping tabs on key issues has proven to be too cumbersome for the average citizen with a day job and a family.

As a result, most have been forced to rely upon political commentary from organizations that primarily tell readers, viewers and listeners how to think rather than present the facts and let viewers judge for themselves, or the media which may or may not have the bandwidth to cover the topics of interest to individual citizens.

So how can average citizens get involved and informed to the point where they can help control the destiny of their communities and country while maintaining a life? The answer may be simpler than you think and is already in place in many cities and counties around the United States.

Local government seems to be leading the way by adopting a technology known as agenda management, pioneered by a Salt Lake City, Utah based company called SIRE Technologies, Inc. SIRE Agenda Plus helps to make government “transparent” by allowing its citizens to gain access to their government with nothing more than a computer and the Internet.

More than merely making public documents accessible over the Internet, citizens can go to their city or county website to look up topics discussed in public meetings. For the first time, the average citizen can become informed and make their voice heard from the comfort of their home or office. With nothing more than a computer, Agenda Plus empowers the average citizen in the following ways:

• Effortlessly learn what decisions your local government is scheduled to make in the upcoming months
• Quickly find when and where public hearings will be held for topics of interest
• Easily view the documents and facts your elected officials will use to make a decision that will affect your life
• Watch town hall or county board meetings via live streaming video from the comfort of your home or office
• Find and view streaming video of meeting segments wherein topics of interest were discussed and voted upon
• Find the voting record of your elected officials within a few keystrokes
• Get the facts from the source before they are spun into something entirely different

Making Government more Transparent

Cities and counties across the country are coming to terms with the idea that people are demanding new ways to access information. Local governments have been providing video in one form or another for several years. Many have implemented a cable program that broadcasts live or recorded local board or council meetings. This was state of the art several years ago and served as a stepping stone to what is available today.

Online video that is tied directly to the meeting agenda text provides the average citizen with the ability to not only watch live or archived public meetings directly over the Internet from home or work, but it also allows them to directly search for topics of interest. This saves countless hours because you are no longer required to watch an entire eight-hour meeting to find the 20 minutes you are interested in. You can also see the minutes from the meeting, coupled with the public documents that relate to that portion of the meeting.

For example, the city of Las Vegas worked with SIRE Technologies to tie SIRE’s video program with SIRE Minutes Plus, which added layers of value by saving time for citizens and those involved in making city council meetings successful. And, at the same time, providing access to information in a meaningful, digestible way.

For instance, if a new hotel is being built, a citizen may want to see excerpts of city council meetings that discuss that particular topic. The system allows them to simply type in the name of the project they want to hear about and the video segments they are looking for will be displayed in a browser. This quick, intelligent access to targeted content is a major step forward. Visitors to the site don’t have to trudge through hours of video content they are not interested in. They are also shown the meeting minutes where the term they searched for is highlighted. This enables citizens to get to the core of the topic and become empowered with the same information the city council leaders have upon which they make decisions.

Simplifying Government Practices

From the city or county level, it is important for most citizens to know that their taxpayer dollars are being used prudently and effectively. The agenda is the heart of the legislative process; it holds the schedule, activities, minutes, votes and other items critical to city and county progress. Agenda management enables city clerks to automate many of the items required in creating the agenda. Yet creating and managing the dozens to hundreds of agendas created every year is a time consuming, resource intensive process.

Using Agenda Plus however, the City Clerk of San Carlos, CA routinely saves between 28-30 labor hours every week and the City of Temecula, CA has seen 300% more people find public documents they need via the Internet instead of driving to city hall. Users of this technology across America are witnessing shorter lines, fewer fees charged, faster turn-around time for citizen requests, and happier citizens.

Saving Time and Tax Dollars

Experience has shown that it is actually more expensive to operate government the ‘old’ way than it is to purchase and use this technology. This is due in large part to the excessive use of paper in the legislative process. When you add up all of the copies of documents that need to be signed, reviewed, approved and stamped, this literally comes to millions of documents per year for an average city. This paper has its price. Not only is it environmentally unfriendly, it consumes precious tax dollars. The City of Irvine, CA saves an estimated $100,000 per year on paper and printing costs while the city of Temecula has eliminated the need to print/copy an estimated 1.2 million documents per year. Additionally, Agenda Plus helps eliminate the number of people that need to drive to city hall or their county building, thereby reducing traffic congestion and the unneeded burning of fossil fuels.

The fact is people are busy. For many citizens, it is difficult at best to get as involved as they might want to with their government. When a city or county implements an agenda management system, they are better able to empower their citizens with information on their terms, whether it is in person, on video or through documents over the Internet.

Society is a little different than it was in President Lincoln’s day; however, it is now possible to deliver information in ways that have never been possible. Actionable knowledge is elegantly handed to individuals to better enable a government of the people, by the people, for the people.

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