Review and file the 2022 Website Transparency Scorecard

Review and file the 2022 Website Transparency Scorecard. 

None. 

In the fall of 2017, the cities and County requested LAFCo to begin preparing web transparency scorecards on an annual basis promoting a vision for open government and transparency for government agencies countywide (cities, County, special districts, and joint powers authorities), thereby fostering public trust and accountability.

The checklist criteria are intended to establish a generally accepted minimum standard for transparency, i.e. this is not intended to be used as a "best website" contest. We acknowledge some of our larger and more resourced agencies go far above and beyond these criteria for higher levels of public service and communication. The goal for smaller agencies is not necessarily to have a high score at the outset, but to set a baseline that will hopefully see improvement from year to year.

Scorecard Results
Website transparency stayed relatively constant across most agency categories, and improved for the County Service Areas, the Fire Protection Districts, and the Yolo County Resource Conservation District as detailed below. There was one JPA that added a new webpage in 2022, but two of the agencies that had stayed in compliance with state law by adopting hardship resolutions every year did not file them with LAFCo and were presumably not done (Capay Cemetery District and Elkhorn Fire Protection District). As in 2021, in total there are three cemetery districts (Capay, Cottonwood and Knights Landing), one fire protection district (Elkhorn), and three reclamation districts (307, 730 and 765) that do not have a website. There are four local JPAs that also do not have websites for transparency purposes, however, there is currently no legal requirement for them to have one. 

Cities and County (5)
City and Yolo County content overall remained at a high level with 97% in 2021 and 96% in 2022.

Special Districts (47)
Special district content is summarized by each district type below. The five districts that are not in compliance with legal requirements (to either maintain a website or adopt a hardship resolution) generally are very small, volunteer-run districts with no staff to maintain a website. 

• Cemetery district (6 total) content dropped slightly from 43% in 2021 to 40% in 2022. As noted above, three cemetery districts (Capay, Cottonwood and Knights Landing) do not have a website at all. 
• Community Services District (4 total) content has improved slightly from 53% in 2021 to 54% in 2022.
• County Service Area (7 total) content has improved notably from 93% in 2021 to 97% in 2022.
• The Sacramento-Yolo Port District (1) remained relatively high at 90% in 2021 and 89% in 2022.
• The Yolo County Resource Conservation District (1) improved from 65% in 2021 to 70% in 2022.
• Water districts (3 total) declined slightly from 64% in 2021 to 61% in 2022.
• Fire protection districts (15 total, although only 5 are independent districts which require websites) improved from 36% in 2021 to 47% in 2022. Two FPDs do not have a website at all (Elkhorn and No Man's Land), but only Elkhorn FPD as an independent district is required to have one. It has adopted hardship waivers in the past, but did not file one with LAFCo for 2022. 
• Reclamation district (10 total) content declined slightly from 33% to 32% overall. Three RDs (RD 307, RD 730 and RD 765) do not have websites at all and are not in compliance with state website laws.  

Joint Powers Authorities/Agencies (18)
Joint Powers Authorities/Agencies' (JPAs) content stayed relatively consistent at 54% for 2021 and 55% for 2022. Of the 18 total local JPAs tracked in the scorecard, four JPAs do not have websites at all. These JPAs are: Conaway Ranch, Winters Branch Library Financing Authority, Winters Public Finance Authority, and Woodland Finance Authority. Yolo County Public Agencies Financing Authority created a new basic webpage in 2022. However, there is no legal website requirement for JPAs.