Bozeman has joined the state of Montana’s open government push as the first city to publish local databases on a state website. The website, data.mt.gov, contains 36 datasets. It includes all public information about the facilities leased by the state and employee pay information, among other databases. Four datasets from the city of Bozeman include all building permits issued since 1996 and city zoning districts.
The site was part of the governor’s push for greater transparency in government and increased efficiency, said Audrey Hinman, bureau chief for the Application Technology Services Bureau for the state chief information officer. It went live on June 30 to little fanfare. The state plans to widely trumpet the site once it has more datasets and staffers gain more experience with it.
Bozeman was brought into the fold after partnering with the state on the Montana Site Selector, a similar project that melds city and state land data. City staffers’ “very aggressive” approach to making city data publicly available made Bozeman spring to the top of the list once the governor and state chief information officer decided to open the website to local governments, Hinman said. Continue>>>
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