During today’s commission meeting, the Washington Coalition for Open Government presented the Port of Port Angeles Board of Commissioners with the ‘Key Award’ for their transparency and citizen participation during the recent Executive Director recruitment process.
“At a time when some prominent public agencies have cloaked the selection process in secrecy, your commission took the opposite approach by making the process and the finalists visible to the community”, stated WA Coalition for Open Government long-time board member, George Erb. “My board considered that approach worthy of recognition.”
During the Port’s recent Executive Director search, the Port Commission chose to make the process open and transparent by announcing the candidates’ names, publishing the step by step interview process, soliciting and utilizing interview questions from the public, interviewing the candidates during an open public meeting and arranging a public reception for the community to meet the Executive Director candidates.
In response to receiving the award, Commission President Colleen McAleer stated, “Government entities sometimes don’t want the public scrutiny that comes along with transparency, but in the long run it is the best thing to do for the organization and most importantly, the public.”
The WA Coalition for Open Government advocates for the people’s right to access government information. The award criteria for the Key Award is any person or organization who has done something notable for the cause of open government within the past 12 months whether it be a board member, the general public or public officials.