How long does it take to get a residential permit? How many jobs in Pierce County earn a “family wage?” How many days is the average length of time someone spends without a permanent home in Pierce County?
Now, residents, media and others interested in government performance can find out this information, and many more data points, thanks to the second phase launch of the Open Pierce County web portal.
Open Pierce County, launched in August, was designed to increase transparency to residents, media and others interested in government performance. The website contains up-to-date measures that provide greater insight into how the County is using its funds and the wellbeing of our community.
The County’s latest web data launch – called Tier 2 – dives even deeper into County performance and measurement to provide a clearer, more transparent view at the departmental level.
“Our goal is to give people as much of a clear picture of how Pierce County operates as possible,” said Brian Hardtke, deputy chief operating officer. “We’ve been building out a robust website since Executive Dammeier announced this initiative in his State of the County Address last year. We will continue to add to and expand the content on the site, but we’re excited to deliver even more information about Pierce County with the launch of Tier 2 data and measures.”
The Executive’s transparency initiative began with the launch of an easy-to-use online public records request portal and continued with a convenient site to report and track public nuisance complaints.
In 2018, more than 3,200 public record requests were handled via that portal. In addition, nearly 3,000 complaints were received through the Code Enforcement portal, freeing up staff to work on the actual resolution of problem properties.
As part of the effort to make the County information more accessible and convenient, its main website was updated to optimize it for mobile devices.
The months-long initiative, called #OpenPierceCounty, culminated in the launch of three segments on Pierce County’s website.
In August, the County launched the first phase of Open Pierce County, which includes high-level initiatives and measures.
Open Performance focuses on the degree to which the County is accomplishing its goals related to three main priorities:
- Vibrant Communities
- Entrepreneurial Climate
- Effective Government
Each priority contains four areas of focus. For example, Vibrant Communities includes public safety, behavioral health, environmental conditions, and housing performance information.
Other portions of the #OpenPierceCounty site are Open Budget, a guided view through detailed financial information, and Open Data, where individuals can view datasets, metadata and create their own filters and charts from the data.