Clayton News Daily

Photo by Heather Middleton

By M.J. Subiria Arauz

msubiria@news-daily.com

Clayton County's government web site, www.claytoncountyga.gov, recently received an A plus rating for the second consecutive year, said a spokeswoman for the Clayton County Board of Commissioners.

The web site received the high rating for its accessible and accountable display of information, also known as transparency, to the public, from the Sunshine Review, explained Jamie Carlington. The Sunshine Review, a non-profit organization dedicated to state and local government transparency, has analyzed governmental transparency web sites for all 50 states in the U.S., and 6,000 local governments, since its inception in 2008, she added.

She said the county's web site is among 112 county web sites in the country to be recognized and receive the honor, through the 2011 Sunny Awards.

The entries for the 2011 Sunny Awards, said Carlington, more than doubled the entries from last year. The awards recognize the best state and local government web sites in America that exceed transparency standards.

"The A plus transparency rating that Clayton County received for its web site speaks volumes to the Board of Commissioners' efforts to keep the residents of the county informed regarding the day-to-day operations of the county," said Brett Lavender, director of information technology for Clayton County.

Lavender said that when the new web site began development last year, the goal was to maintain the same level of transparency that already existed.

"I am proud of all of the hard work and effort by the entire IT [information technology] team that went into the design, implementation and launch of our new, award-winning site," he said.

Carlington added that in 2010, Clayton County was just one, out of two counties in the state of Georgia to receive an A plus ranking by the Sunny Awards. Other local-winning counties of the national web site disclosure program, include Henry, Cobb and Richmond counties.

For more information about the Sunshine Review visit, http://sunshinereview.org.