Open San Marcos scores big with city council reforms

The guidelines, 12 in all, are a mix of new reforms long sought by the Open San Marcos organization and ongoing improvements by the city

Send your comments and questions to Mr. Thomaides at johnt7899@gmail.com or click on the "comments" at the bottom of the story

Open San Marcos coordinator and city council candidate, Place 3, John Thomaides forwarded the following news late last night:

Thomaides

Tonight the City Council passed the attached Policy for Open Government!

I believe Steve Harvey (Open San Marcos co-founder) would be proud of our entire group, the city staff and City Council for accomplishing this goal and improving our city for many years to come.

Congratulations and Cheers!

The San Marcos City Council voted to adopt a resolution (with Open Government Guidelines attached) containing a list of reforms that include more and earlier public input into policy and procedure, accountability measures, easier to understand records and public notice postings, and an ethics commission to "detect and prevent fraud and abuse of public resources."

Resolution/Click to enlarge
The guidelines – 12 in all, are a mix of ongoing improvements by the city and new reforms long sought by the Open San Marcos organization – became effective "in full force" immediately after the resolution's passage.

Under the "Available Media" guideline the city has agreed to make its website more user friendly and interactive, allowing for citizen questions and concerns to be posted, expand its TV live broadcasts of council and planning commission meetings, and expand traditional means of communicating with the public.

Two guidelines address feedback to citizens and campaign finance:

"Feedback to residents on how their input affected a public decision is important. The City will provide feedback through various outlets, such as conveying results of citizen surveys or responding promptly to citizen questions and requests."

"Campaign finance reports by elected City officials and candidates are filed with the City, posted online and accessible to the public."