Grand Jury 19-20 Grand Jury Report Responses 1 message

County and City website information is sometimes missing, out-of-date, and inaccurate; links may be broken. Thus, many city and county departments aren't updating their websites often enough to keep citizens informed. AGREE X PARTIALLY DISAGREE – explain the disputed portion DISAGREE – explain why Response explanation (required for a response other than Agree): Because the website can only be as current as the data on hand, the County partially disagrees. Each County department maintains its own website content and staff try to maintain the sites with current information. Many County department websites link to State and other sites. If these entities change their web links, the links on the County site will break and this can be difficult to restore until the new link location is identified. The report also identifies some instances where the website had not been updated, but not all of this information is out of date. For example, the County Administrative Officer newsletter is current. County departments can run software that looks for broken links and steps will be taken to make content management staff aware of these tools. Sometimes, once a broken link is identified, the most challenging part of restoring the link is deciding what to do about the new information and how to link to it in a way the best serves the public.

County and City administrations lack a process to review content accuracy and currency and thereby assure timely correction and revision of content. AGREE X PARTIALLY DISAGREE – explain the disputed portion DISAGREE – explain why Response explanation (required for a response other than Agree): The County administration does not have a centralized process to review content accuracy and currency. The County website has a great deal of content, which changes with some regularity. County departments are expected to maintain their own website content because the departments possess the subject matter expertise necessary to determine which information needs to be updated.

County and City goals for website redesign or quality improvement are not sufficiently “SMART”: Specific + Measurable + Attainable + Relevant + Time- Bound. AGREE _ PARTIALLY DISAGREE – explain the disputed portion X DISAGREE – explain why Response explanation (required for a response other than Agree): The County uses “SMART” (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time- Bound. The objective cited in the report meets the SMART criteria used by County departments in creating the Operational Plan.

The County does not have a notification system by which users can be alerted to updated web content. The County's website would be enhanced by the addition of a site-wide notification system. X AGREE _ PARTIALLY DISAGREE – explain the disputed portion DISAGREE – explain why Response explanation (required for a response other than Agree): The County Information Services Department has developed a web feature by which users can be alerted to updated web content. The new functionality is under review for how to deploy it in a way that is most useful to the public. It is anticipated that the new feature will go live before the end of the calendar year.

County and City website content providers do not provide an explanation in content for incorrect or out-of-date information, even though they appear to know the reasons. X AGREE PARTIALLY DISAGREE – explain the disputed portion DISAGREE – explain why Response explanation (required for a response other than Agree): County staff do not add explanations to the websites as to why information may be out of date or incorrect. When content managers identify out of date or incorrect content, the practice is to remove the incorrect content and replace it with correct and current information.