In August of 2018, Monongalia County became the first to embrace an initiative by West Virginia Auditor J.B. McCuskey to place county financial data online in cooperation with software provider OpenGov.
Now the county plans to assist McCuskey in spreading the word about Project Mountaineer, which seeks to expand OpenGov’s services to municipalities on the state’s dime.
The county and McCuskey’s office will host a Lunch and Learn session next month in Monongalia County for interested elected officials across the state.
“We’re thrilled that the auditor asked us to host this event for the state,” Commission President Tom Bloom said. “We believe this is the truest form of transparency in that people can now have the ability, whether it’s a city, county or even a board of education, to see exactly where the money is going.”
McCuskey said the benefits actually flow both ways. He said that providing the software allows his office to more efficiently conduct audits and head off potential problems.
“More than anything, it’s my hope that it will allow us to identify problems before they become catastrophes. The economy in West Virginia is what it is, and a lot of our cities and towns are struggling … I don’t want to issue reports explaining why cities had to shut down. I’d much rather we can proactively monitor them and say, ‘Hey, you have issues coming here, here and here. How can we help you get on top of this?’ ”
McCuskey went on to say, “It does little good for the government to come in after the fact and tell you why something happened. That helps nobody. What helps is being able to prevent the issues in the first place and that’s one of our main goals with Project Mountaineer.”
According to McCuskey, Project Mountaineer has about 35 cities signed up so far and came about with the assistance and endorsement of the West Virginia Municipal League.
The software will include a “dashboard” for municipal officials, which, McCuskey said, “breaks down their city’s financials in a way that a non-accountant can actually read them.”
It also makes the data available online in a searchable format.
According to Morgantown Communications Manager Andrew Stacy, city representatives are “looking at attending” the information session for officials next month.
In February, Morgantown City Council approved a contract with a separate firm, ClearGov, for the creation of its own transparency website.
The three-year contract included a one-time fee of $3,500 and an annual subscription cost of $9,500.
Asked about the meeting, Stacy said the city is “… always looking for innovative way to reduce costs, provide engaging customer experiences and easy access to information.”
McCuskey said he’s excited to see the initiative spread across the state.
“No one’s ever done this before. This is a first in American history, essentially,” he said. “There’s going to be kinks and growing pains, but the idea and technology is sound, and when this works like I know it’s going to, it’s going to change everything.”
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