Council News Release

Council President Richard Conlin

City Council Launches Improved Online Public Meetings Calendar
New calendar features make it easier for citizens to search event topics and request meeting notices by email, text messages, and RSS feeds

SEATTLE – As part of its commitment to make its legislative process open and transparent, the Seattle City Council announced today the availability of an enhanced Council calendar tool on its public website.

Located at www.seattle.gov/council/calendar , the improved online calendar helps citizens stay better informed of the Council’s public meetings by offering a variety of easy-to-use event navigation, search, posting, RSS feed, and downloading tools. New enhancements to the site include:

• Viewing Council events by table, day, week or month format
• Searching for a Council event by date, councilmember, or legislative/committee topic
• Adding an event to personal online calendars or event platforms (Facebook, Yahoo, Google, MSN, AOL, etc.)
• Triggering event email reminders to designated user accounts
• Requesting Council event notices by text message and RSS Feeds

Richard Conlin, City Council President and Chair of the Council’s Special Committee on Open Government, said, “Providing simple, user-friendly web tools is one of the many ways we are making it easier for people to stay informed of, search for, and participate in the Council’s legislative process. These superior features make it possible for citizens to remain up-to-date on Council activities when it’s convenient for them, which we hope will result in greater citizen engagement in public policy decision-making.”

Council meetings are cablecast live on Seattle Channel 21 and Webcast live on the City Councils website at www.seattle.gov/council. Copies of legislation, archives of previous meetings, and news releases are available on www.seattle.gov/council. Questions about Council news releases can be directed to Kimberly Reason, Council Communications, at 206-684-8159, or by e-mail at kimberly.reason@seattle.gov.

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City Council