Advocacy group raises Union County's transparency grade | Community Spirit

UNION COUNTY, IL (KFVS) - An advocacy group devoted to grading state and local transparency has published an updated review of Union County's website.

On Aug. 21 Sunshine Review updated the transparency two full letter grades from an initial "F" to "C." This placed Union County solidly in the top 20 percent of Illinois counties as reviewed by the group.

"Union County has made dramatic improvements to their online transparency," said Kristin McMurray, managing editor of Sunshine Review. "They excelled in disclosing information about how to attain public records and providing financial data. The county has indicated its dedication to transform its 'C' grade to an 'A+.' We encourage the elected officials of Union County to invest the necessary resources to making their website one of the best in Illinois."

Rollie Hawk of the Union County Technology Solutions, a local IT services provider responsible for the county's website and email services, is pleased with the progress but acknowledges there's still much work to be done.

"I'm far from satisfied with where we are but it's nice to have some of our progress getting noticed," said Hawk. "At first I was disappointed to receive the 'C' grading but when I consider we were effectively starting from nowhere, well, I'm happy with the direction we're going."

According to the Office of Treasurer and Collector, Hawk is part of a three-person team working on this project which also includes treasurer Darren Baily and state's attorney Tyler Edmonds. Testament to their offices' involvement were the high praises for Union County's taxing transparency, largely the result of documents recently published by the treasurer's office and the fact that Union County's entire code of ordinances is now available online at code.unioncountyil.gov.

You can click here for the full report from the Sunshine Review.

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