After two months of planning, Supervisor Don Nottoli and County officials hosted a delegation of elected government officials from Russia to discuss how our government is organized, how we deliver services, establish fees, run open public meetings and handle citizen requests.
Sponsored by the Open World Leadership Center, Open World Program, and administered by Friendship Force International who hosted the visitors, the group’s itinerary was packed, including a visit with Sheriff Scott Jones yesterday, seeing a Kings game last night and later touring our Voters and Registration Department.
“Sharing ideas and experiences about local government not only expands our thinking but builds bridges that can inspire improvements on both sides,” said District 5 Supervisor, Don Nottoli. “Today we covered a wide variety of subjects including everything from services and open public meetings to tackling illegal dumping. It highlighted that communities across the world have more in common than you might expect.”
County Executive Brad Hudson discussed open data sharing, transparency of public records, as well as the County’s popular new 311 Connect service, where residents can report issues on their mobile phone, website or telephone. The delegate members were very interested in the program and shared that residents can upload photos and videos of issues to their government organizations in Russia for resolution.
The session ended with a lively question and answer session, a tour of the Board Chambers and a spirited photo session.