Richmond County, Georgia

From Sunshine Review

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Richmond County is one of 159 counties in Georgia. Its county seat is Augusta. Richmond County has Unified with the City of Augusta.

[edit] Evaluation of website

Main article: Evaluation of Georgia county websites

[edit] The good

• Budgets are available from 2006 up to the present.^[1]
• Commissioners' contact information is listed. ^[2]
• Administrative contacts are available. ^[3]
• The Planning and Zoning section of the site has helpful information. ^[4] Information on permits^[5].
• Audits are available from 2003 up to the present.^[6]
• Local tax information is available.^{[7] [8]}
• Meeting minutes, agendas and times are on the website, though can be hard to navigate.^[9][10]
• Contracts are posted.^[11]
• Audits are posted in the Annual Financial Reports.^[12]
• Information is posted on how to file for a public records.^[13]

[edit] The bad

• Discloses membership to the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia, a taxpayer-funded lobbying association,^[14] but does not provide information on lobbying by the county.

[edit] Public records

In April of 2010, Augusta adopted a more open policy for public records requests. An 8 month old policy that required FOIA requests be reviewed by the city's legal department.

The new policy was drafted by Interim General Counsel Andrew MacKenzie and gives discretion to department heads to handle requests on their own, asking them to seek legal advice only when they believe it is appropriate. The new policy overturns the former General Counsel Chiquita Johnson who'd enforced the measure. Johnson's tenure as chief legal adviser ended in January with a forced resignation over several performance issues.^[15]

[edit] External links

Richmond County

• Augusta - Richmond County website
• Richmond County School System
• Augusta - Richmond County on E-Reference
• Augusta Public Library
• Richmond County on Georgia.gov
• Richmond County Free Public Records Directory

[edit] References

	v • d • e State of Georgia Atlanta (capital)
Transparency	Open Records Act | Transparency Checklist | Government corruption reports | Transparency Legislation | Open Records procedures | Transparency Advocates | State budget | Taxpayer-funded lobbying associations |
Divisions	State | List of Counties | List of Cities | List of School Districts | Evaluation of county websites | Evaluation of city websites | Evaluation of township websites | Evaluation of school district websites |
Government	Georgia State Constitution | Executive | House of Representatives | Senate |
Judiciary	Georgia Supreme Court | Judicial Activist Organizations | Judges in the news |
Ballot Measures	2008 ballot measures | List of ballot measures | local ballot measures | Recall campaigns | School bond issues | Laws governing ballot measures |