Chattanooga may expand its open government policies by placing more data and information on the Internet, officials say.
Mark Keil, city information officer, said this week that he thinks the city easily could begin placing more records online, such as crime analysis records or statistics that the government receives almost every week.
"It is opening ourselves up," Mr. Keil said.
Mr. Keil made his proposal to the City Council Tuesday during its Legal and Legislative Committee meeting. City officials said they have drafted a resolution in support of placing more information on the Internet and could vote on the measure within the next two weeks.
Richard Beeland, spokesman for Mayor Ron Littlefield and one of those in charge of handling open records requests for the city, said the idea has merit.
"Anything that would make access easier, we're for it," Mr. Beeland said. "But it should be vetted by the city attorney's office."
Mr. Keil said a lot of information received by the city could be placed directly on the city's Internet site and the public then could download the data to sort and study.
But there would be some limitations, he said.
"At this point, there's no funding, so it can't cost anything," he said.
When city officials order software, they easily could ask companies to write in programs that would make information easier to place on the Internet, Mr. Keil said.
The city attorney's office warned this week that some information could not be placed online because it could violate open records laws, including personal information such as Social Security numbers or business information.
City Councilman Andraé McGary said he fully supports the idea. Other cities, such as San Francisco, also are putting more data online, he said.
WHAT'S NEXTThe city attorney's office will draft a resolution that will advocate placing city data and information onto the Internet. The City Council will vote on the resolution within the next two weeks.
"This now gives our citizens a chance to use it as well," he said.
Frank Gibson, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, said Wednesday that Memphis just opened up more transparency in its government through executive order. One of the steps that city took is placing city contracts online, he said.
"As long as they don't pick and choose what goes on the Internet and then say, 'Everything's on the Web site,' it's OK," he said.