City of Glendale, AZ Draft Open Data Resolution

Shared for feedback by City Manager's Office

The city of Glendale is seeking public feedback through June 15, 2017 regarding a draft resolution that would create an Open Data program. This program would establish a framework to support the proactive publication of city data in an effort to provide meaningful information for the community, improve the delivery of services, increase transparency and access to public information, and enhance stakeholder engagement around data and problem-solving.

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City of Glendale, AZ Draft Open Data Resolution

RESOLUTION NO. R17-XX A RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF GLENDALE, MARICOPA COUNTY, ARIZONA AUTHORIZING AND DIRECTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN OPEN DATA PROGRAM FOR THE CITY OF GLENDALE.

WHEREAS, it is the mission of the City of Glendale, Arizona to improve the lives of the people served every day, and city leaders value integrity, excellence, innovation, community engagement, and ongoing learning; and,

WHEREAS, today, digital data collected by the City of Glendale, Arizona (the "City”) is not generally readily available to the public for aggregation and analysis; and

WHEREAS, access to public data promotes a higher level of civic engagement and allows citizens to provide valuable feedback to government officials regarding local issues; and

WHEREAS, every citizen has the right to prompt, efficient service from the government; and

WHEREAS, the thoughtful implementation of an Open Data Program can improve the provision of services, increase transparency and access to public information, and enhance coordination and efficiencies among departments, partner organizations and citizens; and

WHEREAS, an Open Data Program proactively provides information often obtained through time-consuming, costly public records requests; and

WHEREAS, by publishing structured, standardized data in machine-readable formats the City seeks to encourage the local software community to develop applications and tools to collect, organize, and share public data in new and innovative ways for the benefit of the greater community; and

WHEREAS, the protection of privacy, confidentiality and security will be maintained as a paramount priority in the open data endeavor while also advancing the government’s transparency and accountability through open data.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Glendale that:

Section 1. It is the policy of the City of Glendale to promote openness, transparency and accountability through open data released by the City while maintaining privacy, confidentiality, security and legal interests.

Section 2. The City Manager is directed to coordinate with other appointed officials to develop an Open Data Program which provides for the proactive release of select data in accordance with the following guidelines and establishes a process for prioritizing the publication of data. Data is to be published:

a. In open standard or machine-readable formats;
b. In a centralized location on the city website;; c. With clearly articulated rights to reuse the data without registration requirements, access fees, licenses, or usage limitations.
d. In accordance with city policies, public records laws, and any other applicable Federal, State and local laws.

Section 3. The City Manager or designee will review and publicly report on the status of the Open Data Program on at least an annual basis to include an assessment of progress, a list of datasets that are currently available, and a description and publication timeline for datasets expected to become available.

PASSED, ADOPTED AND APPROVED by the Mayor and Council of the City of Glendale, Maricopa County, Arizona this ____ of _________, 2017. New Document Content

19 Comments
  • User profile image


    Special thanks to everyone who took the time to provide feedback and comments on the draft resolution. Your feedback was valuable to the process. I am pleased to report that the City Council adopted a resolution in support of creating an Open Data program on Tuesday 6/27. The final resolution language can be found here: https://glendale-az.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3086887&GUID=68D243FB-66A3-4381-B963-2176AC97CEE9. Special thanks to the What Works Cities and Sunlight Foundation teams for helping us make improvements for our community. We are looking forward to the implementation phase of this project.

  • User profile image

    Leonard Escudero

    This resource would be of great value to the Human Resources Commission. The demographic information would help serve as a guide to commission activities. Kudos for the concept.

  • User profile image

    David Gonzalez

    I am concerned about approving citizen information on a public forum particularly since this proposal does not indicate what data will be posted and whether there will be people identified by the data. If there will be personal citizen information will there be a method for that person to know who is accessing their information and can they approve access to that information to the requester?

  • User profile image

    Jeff McAffee

    This resolution would serve the residents of the City of Glendale well. Two questions: 1) Is there room for it in the budget? And, 2) Are there any examples of city websites already doing something similar for review? Jeff

  • User profile image

    Ray Strahl

    I have read the comments from others that have posted here and not to be redundant, I agree that there should be transparency and the process should be easy to find and user friendly. the Mayor and Council are working hard to provide what is best for the City of Glendale, and so I am in support of this.

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    Jane Bachmann

    Before any new data is added to the Glendale website, glendaleaz.com needs work so that it is easier to find information. For example Planning should be on the home page and readily accessible. A link to a site administrator or someone responsible for the website needs to be created. Presently there is no contact information if we have comments about the website. All of this needs straightening out before adding "open data".

  • User profile image

    Carl V. Lewis

    In a centralized location on the city website;

    This, to me, is a key aspect of the value proposition, and it deserves emphasizing. By having agencies upload data to a centralized repository, it allows mashups, composite takes and easy comparison.

  • User profile image

    Gary Deardorff

    This is way past due. The current system is awful and discourages citizen evolvement. Please continue on with this vital upgrade.

  • User profile image

    Leslie Sheeler

    • what is included in the "Datasets"?
    • isn't this info already available on the City's website (albeit scattered and out of date)?
    • knowing that almost anything can be found on the City's website, it would be nice if it were organized and up to date; with that being said, who will be in charge of keeping this information updated(certainly the City Manager will defer this activity to someone else) at least annually and will they replace the current person who is not doing the job with your website to save money?
    • currently, the Mayor and several councilmembers have not responded to the concerns of my community (child safety issues), so how are you going to assure responses to citizen's questions in a timely manner?
  • User profile image

    Lynn Harding

    My first question is; How much is this going to cost to discover, create, implement & sustain. Transparency is great but not if it wastes my already overtaxed dollars so someone can get all warm and fuzzy about "transparency".

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