Palatine Township to post more info online

Had Palatine Township been subjected to the same Illinois Policy Institute audit as several of its neighbors earlier this year, its score for website transparency would likely have been dismal.

Now, township officials would welcome the Chicago-based think tank's inspection.

Palatine Township plans on posting to its website a plethora of public information from meeting agendas and budgets to salaries and benefits. Officials approved the measure Monday by a 3-0 vote and hope to have the website updated by the township board's Oct. 25 meeting.

"The whole reason this is important is that it allows for closer public scrutiny," Palatine Township Clerk Lisa Moran said. "It keeps us as board members on our toes, and could also prevent corruption because people can keep a closer eye on what we're doing."

Increasing transparency and access to information has been a recurring topic of discussion at the township going on two years.

However, Moran said neither the township's budget nor computer infrastructure allowed for frequent posting of information online. No dedicated staff member worked on the township website, so officials would wait to pool information they wanted uploaded and then pay their information technology consultant to do it as a separate expense.

"The system didn't work for the amount of information people were demanding," Moran said.

The township recently modernized its computer system so staff can post its own content.

Moran said turned to the Illinois Policy Institute's Ten-Point Transparency Checklist when researching the issue. She also consulted Hanover Township's website, which implemented numerous changes and improved its transparency score by 57 points on a follow-up audit.

Palatine Township will add information including: an administrators' contact information page, meeting agendas, up to five fiscal-year budgets, financial audits, monthly expenditure reports, annual wage reports, Town Fund contracts and lobbying membership invoices.

Assessor Terry Kelly also will be asked to add brief educational tax information to his "already informative webpage," according to Moran.

"It's going to be extremely thorough," Moran said. "This is a proactive step toward transparency."