Little Rock, AR

Sunlight provided assistance with the development of this policy.

RESOLUTION NO. __________

A RESOLUTION TO APPROVE AN OPEN DATA POLICY FOR THE

CITY OF LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

WHEREAS, the Board of Directors authorized the development of an Open Data Policy by the adoption of Resolution No. 14,307 on March 15, 2016; and,

WHEREAS, the City Manager formed a Governance Committee to meet, discuss and develop an Open

Data Policy; and,

WHEREAS, in conjunction with the Sunlight Foundation, the Governance Committee has prepared an

Open Data Policy for the City of Little Rock; and,

WHEREAS, the Open Data Policy has been fully vetted and finalized.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE CITY

OF LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS:

Section 1. The Board of Directors hereby adopts the City of Little Rock Open Data Policy attached as

Exhibit A.

Section 2. Severability. In the event any title, section, paragraph, item, sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this resolution is declared or adjudged to be invalid or unconstitutional, such declaration or

adjudication shall not affect the remaining portions of the resolution which shall remain in full force and effect as if the portion so declared or adjudged invalid or unconstitutional were not originally a part of the resolution.

Section 3. Repealer. All laws, ordinances, resolutions, or parts of the same, that are inconsistent with the provisions of this resolution, are hereby repealed to the extent of such inconsistency.

ADOPTED: May 3, 2016

ATTEST: APPROVED:

Susan Langley, City Clerk Mark Stodola, Mayor

APPROVED AS TO LEGAL FORM:

__________________________________

Thomas M. Carpenter, City Attorney

EXHIBIT A

CITY OF LITTLE ROCK

OPEN DATA POLICY

Section 1. Definitions.

a. "Data" means statistical, factual, quantitative, or qualitative information that is regularly</p>

maintained or created by or on behalf of a City Department</span>.

b. "Open data" means data that is available online, in open format, with no legal encumbrances on</p>

use or reuse, and not subject to an exemption from disclosure under the Arkansas Freedom of

Information Act (“FOIA”).</span>

c. "Open format" means any widely accepted, nonproprietary, platform-independent, machine-</p>

readable method for formatting data, which permits automated processing of such data and facilitates search capabilities.</span>

d. "Dataset" means a named collection of related records, with the collection containing data

organized or formatted in a specific or prescribed way, often in tabular form.

e. "Protected information" means any dataset or portion thereof to which an agency may deny access pursuant to the FOIA or any other law, rule or regulation.

f. "Sensitive information" means any data which, if published on the Open Data Portal, could raise privacy, confidentiality or security concerns or have the potential to jeopardize public health, safety or welfare to an extent that is greater than the potential public benefit of publishing that data.

g. “Publishable data" means data which is not protected or sensitive, not exempt from disclosure under the FOIA, and which has been prepared for release on the open data web portal.

Section 2. Open Data Initiative.

a. The City will develop and implement practices that allow it to:

1. Proactively release all publishable City data, making it freely available in open formats,</p>

with no restrictions on use or reuse, and fully accessible to the broadest range of users to use for varying purposes.</span>

2. Publish high quality, updated data with documentation (metadata) and permanence to encourage maximum use.

3. Establish and maintain an open data web portal that provides a central location for</p>

published City data</span>.

4. Minimize limitations on the disclosure of public information while appropriately </p>

safeguarding protected and sensitive information.</span>

5. Encourage innovative uses of the City's publishable data by agencies, the public, and other partners.

b. The development and implementation of these practices shall be overseen by the City Manager.

c. The requirements of this Open Data Policy shall apply to any City Departments, Offices, and Administrative Units.

Section 3. Governance.

a. Implementation of the Open Data Policy will be overseen by the City Manager’s Office or an

Open Data Governance Committee, made up of designated individuals who will work with the City's Departments to:

1. Identify a lead open data coordinator for each City department who will be responsible

for managing that Department’s participation in the Open Data Policy.

2. Oversee the creation of a comprehensive inventory of datasets held by each City

Department which is published to the Open Data Portal and regularly updated.

3. Develop and implement a process for determining the relative level of risk and public

benefit associated with potentially sensitive, non-protected information so as to make

a determination about whether and how to publish it.

4. Develop and implement a process for prioritizing the release of data sets to the Open

Data Portal which takes into account new and existing signals of interest from the public, such as the frequency of FOIA requests, the City's programmatic priorities, existing opportunities for data use in the public interest, and cost.

5. Establish processes for publishing data sets to the Open Data Portal, including processes for ensuring that datasets are reviewed for use-appropriate formats, quality, timeliness, and exclusion of protected and sensitive information.

6. Develop and oversee a routinely updated public timeline for new dataset publication.

7. Ensure that published datasets are available for bulk download.

b. In order to increase and improve use of the City's open data, the City Manager will actively

encourage departmental and public participation through providing regular opportunities for

feedback and collaboration.

Section 4. Web Portal.

a. The City will create and maintain an Open Data Portal where the City's publishable data will be publicly available.

b. Datasets published on the Open Data Portal shall be placed into the public domain. Dedicating</p>

datasets to the public domain means that there are no restrictions or requirements placed on use of these datasets</span>.</span>

Section 5. Open Data Report and Review.

a. Within one (1)-year of the effective date of the adoption of this Open Data Policy and thereafter on an annual basis, the City Manager shall submit to the City Board of Directors an annual Open Data Report. The report shall include an assessment of progress towards achievement of the goals of the City's Open Data Policy, an assessment of the current scope of departmental compliance, a list of datasets currently available on the Open Data Portal and a description and publication timeline for datasets envisioned to be published on the portal in the following year.

b. During the review and reporting period, the City Manager should also make suggestions for improving the City's open data management processes in order to ensure that the City continues to move towards the achievement of the Open Data policy's goals.

APPROVED BY THE ADOPTION OF LITTLE ROCK RESOLUTION NO. ______ ON

MAY 3, 2016.