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TagsBY JOE TYRRELL
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
Hunterdon County's website is the best in New Jersey at keeping the public informed about what government is doing, according to a new study by good government groups and academics.
As part of National Sunshine Week, which promotes open government, Hunterdon won the state's first "most transparent" award following the study of all 21 county websites.
The project was a cooperative venture of the New Jersey Taxpayers Association, the New Jersey Foundation for Open Government, Common Cause of New Jersey and the School of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University-Newark.
"The ubiquity of the internet and electronic communication has made it easier for government to keep the public informed," said Ron Miskoff, NJFOG president. "We decided to see whether New Jersey counties are taking advantage of the tools available."
Some are, some aren't. Evaluators rated the sites on 49 criteria, ranging from simple matters like timely posting of meeting agendas and budgets, to whether they provide information on procurement, collective bargaining and employee perks.Despite expectations that bigger counties with larger budgets would have a greater presence on the web, the researchers found that commitment to informing the public was the key factor, according to Miskoff.
"Any government agency, regardless of size, can have a terrific website," he said. "That's the point."
The top three counties in the rankings are Hunterdon, Camden and Sussex. The bottom are Salem, Passaic and Mercer.
"It's not like we have 42 people working on the website," said Hunterdon County Administrator Cindy Yard. "We have 10 people in our IT department, one who's the web maven and when she's not there, another who's cross-trained to do that job."
"It doesn't cost us anything to make stuff available to the public," said Freeholder George Melick. "Once you've got the people and the equipment, it doesn't cost any more to do it right."
Melick credited "pushes" from employees, the public and the media with spurring them to do better jobs complying with open meetings and records requirements. That has meant overcoming some mistakes, he said.
Until a public records request three years ago from this writer, the Hunterdon freeholders had never made public the minutes of their closed sessions. That despite a legal requirement that government agencies do so once action is completed on the subject of the closed meeting, such as a land purchase, lawsuit or contract.
Since then, however, the freeholders have regularly scheduled sessions to go over old minutes and release them as required, "and we're all caught up," Yard said.
In fact, Hunterdon officials are fighting the New Jersey Association of Counties, the lobbyist for the 21 counties, trying to get it to make public its budget and salary information. Hunterdon stopped paying the association dues because NJAC refused to disclose the records to Melick.
"You'd be surprised how much pressure the freeholders got from other counties" to drop the issue, but the matter is before the state Government records Council, Yard said.
Graduate students from Rutgers went through the entirety of the county webpages during November and again in February, then faculty members and researchers from Rutgers and Kent University reviewed the findings, said Neil Coleman, vice president of the taxpayers association.
The researchers then presented the results to county officials for their comments. The responses have been positive, leading to dialogues about where and how information can best be presented, according to Coleman.
"We believe this study is a big step in the right direction," he said. "Most of the counties have been very encouraging about the fact that they can do better."
The top counties all do well at making basic information readily accessible, and all the sites are strong on meeting information, how to contact elected officials, job openings and volunteer opportunities, Coleman said.
The best counties provide some detailed information, such as departmental workings, and clearly present it on their sites, he said. Some others omit such subjects or leave them "embedded" in minutes or other reports with little, he said.
Few counties offer much about their unfunded liabilities, checkbook registers, hirings and firings, or the qualifications of top employees, according to Coleman.
Those findings opened some eyes to things that Hunterdon could add to its site, Melick said.
The researchers hope to continue the project, possibly covering major municipalities or school districts next, Coelman said.
Joe Tyrrell may be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
