City of Rochester
News Release
(Friday, Dec. 22, 2017) – Mayor Lovely A. Warren today
announced enhancements to the City of Rochester’s Freedom of Information (FOI)
process and website that will enhance citizens’ access to information and
provide greater transparency in City government. A fully searchable, FOI “Reading Room” has
been created that will allow anyone to see and access all public documents that
have been requested and fulfilled under the FOI process. Additionally, the website’s
content management system has been upgraded, resulting in a faster website with
a more powerful search engine.
“Greater transparency in government is critical for ensuring
greater accountability to our citizens,” said Mayor Lovely A. Warren. “I am
proud that less than a year after we launched the first major upgrades to the
FOI process in decades, we are now creating an open Reading Room where citizens
can have an even greater level of accessibility. Our ability to enhance the City’s
website with a stronger search engine will mean much more important information
about City government, programs, projects and policies will be more readily
available to residents.”
There is a new “button” on the city’s Freedom of Information
page (www.cityofrochester.gov/FOIL)
that will easily direct users to the reading room. It is expected that over time the reading
room and other open data portals on the City’s website will be expanded to
actively allow open access to information and documents currently only
available through the FOI process.
Over the past few weeks, system upgrades have meant website
updates and the fulfilling of Freedom of Information requests have been delayed
or temporarily stopped. With the completion of the new system upgrades it is
expected that all pending and future requests will move ahead without any
further system related delays.
These FOI upgrades come after a significant system upgrade
was undertaken earlier this year. These combined projects were designed to
provide easier access, greater transparency and faster delivery of documents.
The search engine improvements will also include enhancements
to make PDF documents more available and searchable. This enhancement will go
live after the first of the year once testing is complete.
###
News Media: For more information,
contact the Communications Bureau at 428-7135.