Of Sunshine and COIN

COSTA MESA WINS "SUNNY" AGAIN
The City of Costa Mesa has, for the second consecutive year, been awarded the Sunny Award by the national nonprofit organization, Sunshine Review.  The full city press release is HERE.

THE HIGHEST LEVEL
This award honors the most transparent government websites in the nation.  According to the press release, Costa Mesa was only one of 22 cities nationwide to earn an A+.  Huntington Park also received a similar score.

KUDOS
Kudos to Communications Director Bill Lobdell and the rest of the folks at City Hall for this award.  I know a few of you question the value and contributions made in this achievement, but the city website IS MUCH BETTER than it was a couple years ago.  I don't know if they've yet achieved CEO Tom Hatch's charge to Lobdell when he hired him on a short consulting contract two years ago to turn Costa Mesa into the most transparent government in the country, but things have improved dramatically in many regards.  It's not perfect yet...

MUCH IMPROVED
There is MUCH more information easily available on the website today than ever before.  That's a mixed blessing for some.

COIN?
For example, Mayor Pro Tem Steve Mensinger's COIN scheme has a page on the website, HERE, that includes many other links to informative pages.  The chart they recently included is helpful, but I still have concerns about how this process is going to work, and whether it will be an anchor to the negotiating process.  We'll find out soon enough because the contract for the General Employees expires the end of this month.