Bad governance leads to patronage governing; the status quo we’ve become all too accustomed to. In a patronage or spoils system of governance, loyalty to those in power is rewarded with positions, favors, and resources, regardless of qualifications or merit. This leads to cronyism, corruption, and inefficiency, as decisions are based on personal relationships rather than public interest or competence. It undermines principles of meritocracy, accountability, and fairness in governance.

Strife between a government and its citizens arises from poor communication, misunderstandings, and therefore a fear that something “corrupt” is occurring. Unethical and even criminal behavior rarely happens when citizens are adequately informed, contributing, and heard. Making public meetings open and public records available for inspection is the basic guidepost for a good government.

Open government or government transparency promotes accountability and provides information to citizens about government actions and decisions. The data collected and maintained by the government is an asset. Governments have more than an ethical duty to share information, but a legal duty as well.

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requires federal records to be fully or partially disclosed upon request. In Indiana, the Access to Public Records Act (APRA) provides citizens with the right to inspect public records. Indiana’s Open Door Laws provide that public meetings must be advertised and open to the public. There are a few exceptions to those mandates including but not exhaustive; investigatory records of law enforcement, grand jury documents, personnel files, and other records with sensitive information.

Many of Indiana’s local government units, like Muncie, still run on an antiquated system where public meetings, such as the Board of Public Works or the Muncie Redevelopment Commission, are held in the morning of a weekday. Public records, like annual budgets or contracts, are not easily accessible online or through other means available to the public. Their website is incomplete and often slow to be updated.

Input from the public is not necessarily guaranteed at public meetings either. However, one positive development to come from the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown is the emergence of virtual meetings, which most public agencies still use to provide access to meetings, even if those agencies are not taking comments from their live streams.

Indiana governments have been slowly modernizing, using services like MUNICODE to provide a database of ordinances and resolutions. Some cities, including Muncie, use it to provide agendas, minutes, and meeting packets. However, MUNICODE only hosts those documents for the City Council meetings, and no other public agency documents have been provided. In Muncie, specifically, this likely has to do with the office of the City Clerk being the office that contracted MUNICODE. Without knowing the full extent of capabilities of a service like MUNICODE, but seeing the difference between how cities engage it, it tells us it has a greater capacity, and it could provide more documents than just ordinances and resolutions.

Technology today allows agencies to provide more documents proactively for inspection. The open data movement is a digital age initiative that advocates for the free and unrestricted availability of data to the public. Advocates look to increase transparency, collaboration, and innovation across many public sectors. Openly sharing data supports public oversight over public actions which helps to reduce corruption and inequity in those actions.

Not all Indiana municipalities are waiting to catch on to the open data movement. South Bend, in 2013, started an open data portal in an effort to improve transparency and empower residents. The portal provides citizens with access to the City of South Bend’s data such as Code Enforcement cases, abandoned property locations, employee compensation, financial transactions, investments, and grants. GIS maps show parks, libraries, historic districts, streetlight and abandoned property locations, land use areas, and legal boundaries, including those for the city. In 2016, the South Bend Police Department (SBPD) began proactively providing more data sets such as an incident map, and crime dashboard which includes the total number of service calls, incident information, and public comments regarding SBPD work.

South Bend’s Transparency Hub is an interactive dashboard portal that makes City data visual, usable, and user-friendly for all South Bend residents. City dashboards are powered by the City’s Open Data Portal, making City analytics transparent and available for download by elected officials, small businesses, and residents. The Hub has features that allow the public to gather information, see crime data, and even leave comments. Both the open data portal and the transparency hub were voluntarily initiated by the Buttigieg administration. South Bend’s actions towards open government act as a model for other Hoosier cities to follow, especially since it can be achieved with existing ESRI ArcGIS software most cities or counties use. In 2015 that’s just what Indianapolis did; joined by Fishers, Zionsville, and Greenwood, they launched their own open data portal.

The less the public knows, the more the government can do against public interests and for its special interests. The only way for the public to ensure its government is acting appropriately is open and free access to public records and meetings. This is vital in maintaining an educated electorate, however, if the public doesn’t know what to ask for, or whether or not a specific public record exists, they cannot request it. It is incumbent upon the government to proactively provide public documents for open, easy, and free inspection; it is their duty to share.