Group: Costa Mesa lets the sun shine in

A week after receiving praise from open-government advocates for posting employees' compensations online, Costa Mesa is again the beneficiary of accolades for its efforts.

The Sunshine Review, a nonprofit advocate for state and local government transparency, gave the city an A-plus for its online transparency.

The grade is a complete 180-degree turn for Costa Mesa — a city the Review previously gave an F to because of the poor quality, accessibility and clarity of its information available online.

Costa Mesa was one of 112 receiving the highest grade of the more than 6,000 cities the Review checked for their public information available online.

Earlier this year, Costa Mesa hired former journalist Bill Lobdell to increase the city's transparency and communication with the public. Since his hiring, city contracts, compensation and other public information has become readily available online with a few clicks of a mouse.

The transparency section of the city's website is available through its homepage at http://www.ci.costa-mesa.ca.us.

— Joseph Serna