Posting government officials’ emails online is now standard practice in Gainesville, Florida. Every email received and sent by the mayor is put online so that anyone can read them. Some might argue that most of those emails contain the city council's Letterheads and should only be about public affairs, but according to Mayor Strange:
“I do see a ton of situations where it would just not be appropriate.”
In Gainesville, some officials have already made it clear that they are not happy with the system. According to them, the new system was implemented without a review process that would allow the officials to have an input into how it works, and that is leading to problems. Residents, for example, are unhappy to find out that emails they sent privately are now open for the world to see. Some of the officials are even leaving certain emails on ‘unread’ so that they don’t show up on the portal.
Montgomery is well on its way to creating such a system for itself. From 2016, the city has been developing a comprehensive data portal which will also include data and plans for street paving, crime reports, and the salaries of city officials.
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