Follow one citizen question from decision to contract to payment and see where the trail breaks
Hook
Pick one thing your town spent money on. Try to follow it from the council decision to the contract to the payment. Notice where the trail ends.
Claim
Pick one thing citizens keep asking about and cannot get a straight answer to. Trace it from council decision to contract to payments, on paper if needed. The places where the trail breaks are the real data problem. Publish what exists as it is, rather than cleaning it into a dashboard first.
Story
The first of Petar’s five moves any mayor can make this year, from his essay. It is also the one practical, useful-in-itself post type the plan allows about once in ten on Facebook: how to check what your town spent. No named person yet; a worked example from a real town would give it one.
Sources
- Petar’s own essay
- section 2: one in ten Facebook posts may be useful in itself
Check before posting
- A how-to post needs a worked example from a real town. If it is a Civium customer, say so.
- The essay’s other four moves are not in this note. Add them if this becomes a longer piece.
- Counterargument below was not in the old note.
Counterargument
Publishing messy data as it is can mislead people, and officials may fear that every gap becomes an accusation.
Post angles
Facebook (Croatian)
- Kako provjeriti na što je vaša općina potrošila novac: nađite odluku vijeća, onda ugovor, onda isplate. Zabilježite gdje trag puca. Ta pukotina je sam problem.
- Pet koraka koje svaki načelnik može napraviti ove godine bez ikakvog novog programa. Prvi: odaberite jedno pitanje na koje građani ne dobivaju odgovor i pratite ga do kraja.
LinkedIn (English)
- How to check what your town spent: find the council decision, then the contract, then the payments. Write down where the trail breaks. The break is the problem.
- Five steps any mayor can take this year without buying new software. Step one: pick the question citizens keep asking and follow it to the end.