Democracy is best practiced by an educated public. 

One means of public education is ensuring that citizens have convenient access to the information that policy leaders employ in their deliberations.  This includes access to staff policy memorandums and other supporting materials.

Having worked at he city of Boulder for six years, where all non-confidential materials that staff prepares for Council meetings and most advisory board meetings are posted on the public web site, I assumed this was the norm for most government entities.  It turns-out that is not the case.

Until recently, it was the practice of RTD only to post its Board and committee meeting agendas on the public web site.  This provided citizens with minimal notice of issues that the Board planned to discuss because the listed agenda topics often are couched in broad terms (e.g. ”Special Services Fare Update”).  Without access to the supporting materials for each agenda item, citizen are often unaware of Board debate concerning matters that impact them, let alone insufficient opportunity for them to prepare their advocacy positions.

Fortunately, after enduring my appeals for more convenient public access to Board meeting materials, RTD staff has responded.  A new link, “WIP Information & Financial Packets,” under the “Board of Directors” section of the RTD web site, www.rtd-denver.com, contains all of the preliminary agenda materials for each RTD Board meeting and Finance & Administration Committee meeting.

This web link is an important new convenience for citizens who are interested in tracking RTD Board business and a significant demonstration of RTD’s commitment to open government.