Muncie — Commissioners said on July 9 that a transparency portal has been added to the Ethics Commission page on the City of Muncie website and described what the portal will contain and how it will be maintained.

According to remarks during the commission’s other-business discussion, the portal includes eight folders corresponding to the ordinance's transparency requirements: the code of ethics and adopted procedures; a historical list of commission members and term dates; State Board of Accounts conflict-of-interest forms; advisory opinions issued by the commission; public documents related to complaints (limited to material made public under commission procedures); annual ethics commission reports; compliance and training reports; a folder for State Board of Accounts forms submitted by officials and employees; disclosures of contracts with relatives of city employees or officials; and a repository for public documents related to purchases of $5,000 or more.

Commission staff named in the discussion include Glenda Munson and Lacey Jones of the city clerk’s office, who assisted in configuring the portal; Patty Goddard, who ran training compliance reports and will continue quarterly reporting; and Belinda (last name not stated), who will receive procurement notices at a dedicated email address. Commissioners said Patty Goddard ran an initial training report in June and plans to run cumulative quarterly reports thereafter.

On procurement reporting, the chair said departments were asked to send information within two weeks of executing a contract or finalizing a purchase; a memo with specifics was distributed to commissioners on the morning of the meeting. Commissioners said the portal will preserve historical membership records (showing when members served and when terms ended) and will hold advisory opinions and complaint materials that become public under the commission’s procedures.

No formal action was required; commissioners thanked staff for the work to set up the portal and said they will monitor submissions and reporting as the system is used.