Transparency

“...transparency is government’s obligation to share information with citizens.”

— ballotpedia

Government should be transparent at all levels

Transparency promotes accountability and enables residents to understand what their Government is doing

Shorewood’s non-transparency to resident document requests

Planned Unit Development (PUD) documents, including Minnetonka Country Club, are not easily accessible to the public
(Conversation starts at 1:40 regarding “extreme” resident data requests that are “demanding and unreasonable”
The City Council struggles to find a way to safely communicate with residents during these “crazy times.”
(Conversation starts at 1:40)
“We were bullied into having this meeting on Zoom.” – CM Saikel

On 9.12.21 the Council agreed to discuss communications with residents at their retreat.
A resident asked for clarification about any method for Communicating with Council (starts at 11:22) The resident was told it would be on the Retreat agenda.
Retreat minutes indicate no discussion
Legal fee invoices for city-driven lawsuits are heavily redacted. (see image)
Traffic volume, speed, citations and environmental studies, are not available-two of the top resident concerns
Documents discussed at Council meetings are only available through lengthy manual searches of .pdf files

Shorewood should provide a navigable website providing easy access to information:

Data supporting capital improvement decisions
The five-year planning cycle for City projects
Cost benefit analyses on any capital improvement project (provided in separate linked docs on the website)
A well-defined communication plan to Increase public education and engagement
Criteria for evaluating success on public projects
Reference documents, proposals, contracts, etc., (added to the web site individually for ease in location)

Shorewood should provide a navigable website providing easy access to information:

“The Minnesota Data Practices Act, Minn. Stat. Sec. 13, is a state law that controls how government data are collected, created, stored (maintained), used and released (disseminated). The MGDPA sets out certain requirements relating to the right of the public to access government data and the rights of individuals who are the subjects of government data.” —Minn. Stat. Sec. 13