HawthorneVillager.com

THE CORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF MILTON

NOTICE OF MOTION

DATE OF MEETING NOTICE OF MOTION TO BE CONSIDERED: Council Meeting – January 30, 2012

REQUESTED BY: Councillor R. Di Lorenzo / Councillor Z. Hamid

WHEREAS the Town of Milton values an open and transparent local government with a
commitment to community engagement that regularly involves citizens through the sharing of
information;

AND WHEREAS the total value of public data is maximized when provided for free or where
necessary only a minimal cost of distribution;

AND WHEREAS when data is shared freely, citizens are enabled to use and re-purpose it to
help create a more economically vibrant and environmentally sustainable town;

AND WHEREAS Open Data and Open Government initiatives can enhance citizen
communications, support the brand of the town as creative and innovative, improve service
delivery, support citizens to self-organize and solve their own problems, and create a stronger
sense of civic engagement, community, and pride;

AND WHEREAS the adoption of open standards improves transparency, access to town
information by citizens and businesses and improved coordination and efficiencies across
municipal boundaries and with federal and provincial partners;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Town of Milton endorses the principles of:

Open and Accessible Data - the Town of Milton will freely share with citizens,
businesses and other jurisdictions the greatest amount of data possible while respecting
privacy and security concerns;

Open Standards - the Town of Milton will move as quickly as possible to adopt
prevailing open standards for data, documents, maps, and other formats of media;

AND FURTHER THAT these Open Data Principles will guide future actions taken in our efforts
to operate an open and transparent form of local government;

AND FURTHER THAT working towards the practical applications of these principles on
existing data sets, Town staff be directed to report back to council what gradual steps could be
taken on existing data sets, with associated risks and benefits identified, taking into
consideration what is reasonable using existing staff resources and time.

That's a great idea, I think we will be the first town/city to do it??.

As long as it does not increase our taxes. GREAT WORK.

Don't say great work, it hasn't passed yet . Partially my fault in not giving adequate education / information to everyone on Open Data prior to the council meeting. I made an assumption that since the motion was simply on the principles and didn't commit the town to spending any money that it would get approval based on the merits of the principles themselves. But there was some confusion with some people on what open data means. So we're planning to bring the motion back in the future for a vote with more advance information educating on the principles and concepts of open data/open government. Some council members would also prefer hearing from staff first on a future report on the topic before voting. Sorry for not doing a better job on this motion. It has support from some council members but I/we need to do a better job in doing more prep-work on information/education so as to hopefully get a majority to vote yes on it.