Website TipsEvery

Board SecretaryShould Know

What is open data?Why does Section 508 compliance matter?What do the Public Records Act and the Brown Act require of agencies with – or without – websites?Financial Transaction and Compensation Report requirementsWhy being “mobile friendly” mattersContent best practices that can save your agency money—and headachesEmail tips that can make future difficult communications easier

SLOANE DELL’ORTO

Our parent company, Digital Deployment: 12 years, 300+ websites.

The Streamline division: 2 years, 267+ local government clients,dedicated to helping with transparency

Partners: SDAO, CSDA, CSAC, ILG, OpenGov, FlashVote

Everything you need to know about online compliance

Open DataWhat it is: AB 169 is a California law defining what the term “open data” means, for content posted to an agency website. If you call it open data and you post it to your website, it’d better meet the guidelines, which are mostly about the searchability and structure of the data.

What to do about it: if your content doesn’t fit the requirements to be called open data, then just don’t call it “open data” :)

Open

Dat

a: A

B 16

9

Section 508What it is: a Federal law requiring that various technology be accessible to people with disabilities. Web section concerns itself with making sure websites work effectively with assistive tech (screen readers, magnifiers, Braille readers, etc.)

What to do about it: You can use online testing software to check for Section 508 compliance. Reach out to your website vendor if your site isn’t compliant - or just use Streamline Web.

ADA

Com

plia

nce:

Sec

tion

508

Public Records ActWhat it is: a law passed by the California State Legislature and signed by the governor in 1968 requiring inspection or disclosure of governmental records to the public upon request, unless exempted by law. California Government Code §§ 6250 through 6270.5.

Online requirements (so far) come through two recent additions:

SB 272

AB 2853Publ

ic Re

cord

s Act

Public Records Act: SB 272 (new-ish)What it is: Enterprise System Catalog requiring local agencies to create a catalog of “enterprise systems” that fit certain criteria, make it publicly available upon request, and postIt in a prominent location on the website if they have one.

What to do about it: review the law and create a spreadsheet of all systems your agency uses that aren’t exempt, or use Streamline’s free Enterprise System Catalog tool (www.getstreamline.com/sb272). Compliance was due by July 1, 2016.

Make sure to post a link on your website in a prominent location!

Publ

ic Re

cord

s Act

: SB

272

Publ

ic Re

cord

s Act

: SB

272

Public Records Act: AB 2853 (new!)What it is: In addition to maintaining public records for public inspection during the office hours of the public agency, a public agency may comply with subdivision (a) by posting any public record on its Internet Web site and, in response to a request for a public record posted on the Internet Web site, directing a member of the public to the location on the Internet Web site where the public record is posted.

What to do about it: post often-requested public records to your site, and point PRA requestors there, potentially saving lots of money. (Note that if they cannot access the site for any reason, you still have to provide printed copies.)Pu

blic

Reco

rds A

ct: A

B 28

53

Publ

ic Re

cord

s Act

: AB

2853

Records

How to make requests

Publ

ic Re

cord

s Act

: AB

2853

Pro tip: Make it clear that most records are available on your site, and give them a way to request others electronically

The Brown Act: agenda postingWhat it is: law governing meetings. At least 72 hours before a regular meeting ... post an agenda containing a brief general description of each item of business to be transacted or discussed at the meeting… in a location that is freely accessible to members of the public and on the local agency’s Internet Web site, if the local agency has one.

What to do about it: Set a reminder to post your agendas at least 72 hours before each meeting, including on your website (or use Streamline Web’s agenda posting reminder tool so you never forget!)

The

Brow

n Ac

t: Ag

enda

s

The

Brow

n Ac

t: Ag

enda

s

The

Brow

n Ac

t: Ag

enda

s

The

Brow

n Ac

t: Ag

enda

s

Pro tip: Instead of having separate sections for meetings, agendas, and minutes, add your

agendas and minutes to each meeting, so that visitors can find what they’re looking for based

upon the meeting date.

The Brown Act: home page agenda (new!)What it is: AB 2257 - a brand new law dictating that agencies post the most recent agenda directly on the homepage of their website, in an electronically searchable / retrievable platform-independent format.

What to do about it: Be prepared by 2019 to post the most recent agenda to the home page in the required format (or use Streamline Web’s automatic home page meeting feature so you don’t have to worry about it).

The

Brow

n Ac

t: Ag

enda

s

The

Brow

n Ac

t: Ag

enda

s

Financial Transaction ReportWhat it is: California Government Code Section 53891 and 53893, requiring local government agencies to submit a specific financial transaction report to the State Controller’s office by April 30th of each year...shall either post it in a conspicuous location on its Internet Web site, or cause copies of the report to be prepared and the clerk of the legislative body shall furnish a copy to any person requesting it.

What to do about it: Visit the Controller’s website for forms, and be sure that your agency is submitting the report each year. Make sure to post it on your website, if you have one. Fin

ancia

l Tra

nsac

tion

Repo

rt

Compensation ReportWhat it is: A report that must be submitted to Controller’s office including information on the annual compensation of its elected officials, officers, and employees. If the agency maintains a website, the report must be posted to a conspicuous location. Alternately a link to the Controller’s PublicPay website can be used instead.

What to do about it: Visit the Controller’s websitefor instructions, and complete your reports annually. If you have a website, post the report on your site as well, or post a link to http://publicpay.ca.gov/ instead. Co

mpe

nsat

ion

Repo

rt

Finan

cial R

epor

ts

Compensation Report (VETOED!)What it is: AB 779 (Garcia) - Would have required a new report on governing board members - must post compensation information in a conspicuous location on website that contains the names, positions, and total compensation, including a breakdown of the types of compensation provided, of each elected official… including salaries, overtime, unused vacation time, stipends, pension contributions, retirement contributions, health premium contributions, automobile allowances, phone allowances, and technology allowances.

What to do about it: Advocate with CSDA to help block future duplicative mandates like this.

Com

pens

atio

n Re

port

Google’s Mobile Friendly UpdateWhat it is: Affectionately known as “Google Mobilegeddon,” it’s a recent update to Google’s search algorithm that penalizes (excludes!) sites that are not mobile friendly when a search is conducted on a mobile device - including smartphones and tablets.

What to do about it: Test your site online using Google’s tool at https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/ - and if your site isn’t mobile friendly, reach out to your website vendor for help,or use mobile-friendly alternatives such as Streamline or Wordpress with a responsive theme.

Mob

ile Fr

iend

ly M

atte

rs

Mob

ile Fr

iend

ly M

atte

rs

Content Best Practices Audience first: what are your visitors looking for? How can you use good website content to provide what they need and save staff time? Consider:

Home page content - target your main audience

Frequent calls for information - post that info on your site

PRA requests for information - post those records on your site

Google analytics - if you don’t have it, get it, it’s free!

Clear navigation: organize your information into unambiguous “buckets” of nav terms, and don’t use internal buzzwords (think like the visitor)

Bite-sized info: use short teasers to display a variety of information on a landing page with broad appeal so visitors can scan for what they need

Cont

ent B

est P

ract

ices

Cont

ent B

est P

ract

ices

Content Best Practices and AB 2853AB 2853 allows a public agency to comply with the PRA by posting any public record on its website and, in response to a request for a public record posted on the Internet Web site, directing a member of the public to the location on the Internet Web site where the public record is posted.

Implications: If you post the content people (or journalists) are looking for to your website, you no longer have to do anything else to comply with PRA requests other than to point them to the webpage with the info they have requested.Co

nten

t Bes

t Pra

ctice

s

Cont

ent B

est P

ract

ices

Best practices: Email communicationsIntention: when using regular email communication it’s important to think about the intention of each campaign so you can craft meaningful messages.

Determine a regular schedule for sending, if possible

Set a clear intention for each message or campaign

Send targeted (aka requested) information whenever possible

It’s good practice to send branded emails that have your “voice” on a regular schedule so your audience feels a connection to you and your mission. This makes it more effective when you later needs to send a “fees are increasing” campaign if necessary.

Emai

l Bes

t Pra

ctice

s

Emai

l Bes

t Pra

ctice

s

So how do you keep on top of this stuff?CSDA (csda.net)

Streamline mail lists (getstreamline.com/subscribe)

Legislative updates (tinyurl.com/leginfo-reg)

Attend CSDA chapter meetings

Attend CSDA legislative days (at least you’ll see it coming!)

Peer groups (by district type, role type)

Stay

info

rmed

CSDA has your back.Examples (like AB 2853 for PRA requests)

CSDA is working hard to protect special districts – get involved!

Join grassroots efforts

Sign up for the blog for legislative-specific content

Sign up for the newsletter for a variety of special district news

Reply to surveys sent your way, and take part in the Listserv

Attend conferences like these (especially Legislative Days)

For more info: Dillon: (916) 442-7887 or dillong@csda.net

CSDA

has

you

r bac

k!

Streamline has your back.Agenda notifiers and meeting dashboard

Transparency guidelines built-in

Section 508 compliant and mobile friendly

Complete control over your content, navigation menus, and more

All inclusive monthly fee: no contracts, unlimited support and hosting

Free SB 272 compliance tool

Whatever crazy laws come next, Streamline will be here to help with compliance.

For more info: Sloane: (916) 900-6619 or sloane@getstreamline.com

Stre

amlin

e ha

s you

r bac

k!