Clark County vendor payments are available for review at http://www.clark.wa.gov/transparency/
Clark County on Tuesday unveiled a new online resource that puts the county’s detailed financial records, contracts and other information in one place for public review.
The “Sunshine Review” page on the county’s website also includes a searchable database with five years’ worth of county vendor payments. That is, payments made by the county to employees and consultants for a variety of reasons — everything from mileage expenses to transportation contracts.
The page was detailed during Tuesday’s regular meeting of the Clark County commissioners. The board praised the staff work that went into the project.
County Commissioner David Madore said the new page, particularly the “open checkbook” feature, marks an important step in the county’s efforts to become more transparent to the people it serves.
It was Republican Madore who first pushed for the open checkbook idea back in January when he asked for a closer look at the county’s accounts payable before they reach the “warrants” stage. The “warrants” stage is a statutory obligation that sends bills to be paid to the commissioners for final approval. By then, the expense has been obligated and allocated in the county budget.
And while that process initially had Madore concerned, his worries appeared to be sated once he saw the contents of the payments. To that end, Madore said he would like to make the information available to the public.
It took a few months to complete, but Madore continuously praised staff throughout the process, stating that the effort was to improve transparency of county expenditures.
The effort has been a somewhat rare project that has been backed by all three commissioners, with Democratic Commissioner Steve Stuart going as far as to thanking Madore for pursuing the effort at times.
Along with vendor payments, commissioners’ expenditures are listed.
From the start of 2013, Stuart has been reimbursed twice for long-distance travel. On Feb. 14 he received $318.56. On May 2 he received $1,030.68.
Republican Commissioner Tom Mielke also has one travel expense in 2013 for long-distance travel. On June 20 he received $687.82.
Madore has no expenses listed from the start of January, when he began his term as commissioner.
