ST. THOMAS — Government House announced late Tuesday the Mapp administration’s launch of its “Open Budget” website, which the administration says “represents meaningful progress in realizing the Mapp/Potter administration’s vision of improving quality of life by improving the U.S.V.I Government transparency.”
According to the release, the open budget website section of the “U.S.V.I. Government Transparency Portal” is now live and accessible to the general public. It says the website represents phase one in the roll out of the “transparency portal,” intended to improve citizen engagement with the Government of the Virgin Islands and access to information.
This initiative is a collaborative effort under the oversight of Chief of Staff Randolph Knight, between Office of Management and Budget (O.M.B.) Director Nellon Bowry, Dept. of Finance Commissioner Valdamier Collens, Attorney General Claude Walker and Bureau of Information Technology (B.I.T.) Director Reuben Molloy, according to the release.
The transparency portal’s open budget website includes agency budget information for fiscal years 2013 through 2016. Also available is the proposed fiscal year 2017 budget, even as it goes through the legislative approval process. Mr. Molloy has created a training video using Screencast that will be available until June 30 for training. (The video, apparently, can’t be viewed on mobile devices that don’t support flash, which is all android devices running Jelly Bean and beyond, and all iPhone and iPads and other Apple devices).
The release says Mr. Molloy began exploring Socrata’s open government solution in May 2015 when Rafael Burgos from SofwareOne and Steven Ellsworth from Socrata made a presentation at B.I.T. demonstrating the available solutions. The initial proof of concept implementation began in October of 2015.
The core members of the G.V.I. implementation team responsible for the successful implementation of the open budget website are Office of Budget and Management Deputy Director Jenifer C. O’Neal, Dept. of Finance Executive Assistant Commissioner Clarina Modeste-Elliott, O.M.B. Associate Director Jackwrel Wallace, and Project Manager and B.I.T. Director Mr. Molloy. The Socrata team included Valerie Moyer and Robin Rosenberg.
Those with questions about the open government website should contact Jackwrel Wallace at O.M.B. via email or by calling 340-774-0750.
Tags: mapp administration, open government, transparency, us virgin islands
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