MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Morgantown City Council is looking towards trying to become more transparent.
A new program has been discussed by council and City Manager Paul Brake, which would allow for a more open interpretation in how the city spends it money.
The new program, ClearGov, aims to present easily interpreted data that shows the spending details of your local government.
Morgantown City Council Member Ron Dulaney, expressed enthusiasm in the city’s efforts in trying to become more transparent.
“I am thankful to Manager Brake and Director Goff for moving us in this direction we are heading now towards greater transparency and providing our financial data online so I think it’s a great move forward,” said Dulaney.
ClearGov has a very similar setup in comparison to the state made program OpenGov.
Much like OpenGov, ClearGov gives out various details in regards to the dollars and cents that is received and spent in city government. While OpenGov goes for a more to the exact cent of where money is going, ClearGov gives a general breakdown of where revenues are received and how they are spent by the city.
Based on ClearGov’s website, it also includes an update on long term debt and future projects as well. Dulaney, states while OpenGov gives a more in depth breakdown of cost, ClearGov will be more easily interpreted with the help of graphics.
“So you know, if an eighth grader came to the site, they would get it without a huge learning curve,” Dulaney explained.
The discussion regarding transparency, has been a statewide conversation for the past year.
OpenGov was initiated by the West Virginia State Auditors Office early last year and has been a basis for multiple county municipalities looking to have a more transparent appearance in their operations.
One of the earliest participants in OpenGov was the Monongalia County Commission who implemented the program in late 2018.
Dulaney acknowledges that not much communication was reached between the neighboring governing bodies and that the decision to go with ClearGov was a move made by Brake.
“I think that if we charge the City Manger to come back with a recommendation, for me what he came back with, does it likely achieve the goals that we set out to achieve, and to me the answer was yes and I have to trust that he did his homework at that point,” he said.
Despite the statewide trend, transparency has been a very hot button issue when it comes to Morgantown City Council.
Recent meetings of council have had debates on whether the need for transparency is necessary. This included open calls from members of council, including Councilman Ryan Wallace, to implement OpenGov in order to, at the minimum, make it easier for local residents to interpret information between two governing bodies who are using their tax dollars.
Dulaney, much like Wallace, has been advocating for a more transparent government and while he was hoping for a program like ClearGov to be implemented sooner, but he’s also happy that there is some step towards transparency.
“Of course I would like to see us in the lead and quicker than we are, but we are doing what we need to do and I think we just need to put the pressure on,” he said.
ClearGov is expected to be fully implemented April 1st.