The Town of Littleton is among 46 communities receiving the 2009 e-Government Award with Distinction for its municipal website from Massachusetts Common Cause's Campaign for Open Government. Littleton earned an e-Government Award under this program in 2008. On Thursday, March 19, 2009 at 1:00 pm in the Nurses' Hall at the State House, the Massachusetts Campaign for Open Government recognized 119 Massachusetts municipalities that have made it easy for their citizens to obtain access to key governance records by posting them online. This simple and inexpensive action opens local government to more people and greatly improves their ability to be responsible, informed citizens. With the growth of the internet, everyone should be able to obtain important information about their local government with the click of a mouse.
In order to qualify for an e-Government Award, the town or city must post their governing body's agenda and minutes, budget information, general by-laws, and--if applicable--their town meeting warrant and results. In order to qualify for an e-Government Award with Distinction, the town or city must fulfill requirements above, as well as provide archived governing board agenda and minutes, zoning by-laws, school committee agendas and minutes, agendas and minutes for an additional board or committee, and a calendar with all public meetings. Littleton was among 46 communities earning the e-Government Award with Distinction in 2009.
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| 2008 e-Government Award accepted by Information System Manager Nancy Glencross |
2009 e-Government Award accepted by Town Administrator Keith Bergman |
2008 e-Government Award: Common Cause Honors 90 Cities and Towns for Posting Key Governance Records on their Websites. Common Cause Massachusetts hosted 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, including the Town of Littleton, were 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.
“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.”
Common Cause Massachusetts is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, government watchdog, dedicated to citizen participation in an open, honest, and accountable government. An independent, member-supported organization, Common Cause has more than 200,000 members nationwide and 10,000 in Massachusetts.