PORTAGE — A recently hired official is working to increase transparency after months of Portage Borough being inundated with Right-to-Know requests.

Borough Manager Makayla Zonfrilli-Lang, who was appointed at the Feb. 2 council meeting, said she’s been attending those meetings since November and has spoken with the former manager, Bob Koban, about the number of requests he received during his tenure.

The requests were generally submitted by the same people each month and were for public information that could’ve been provided freely, without officials having to endure the legal Right-to-Know process, Zonfrilli-Lang said.

“Portage is a small borough with limited resources, and I thought if I tried to create an environment where people felt comfortable just asking me instead of going through the Right-to-Know process, we might be able to save some money and I might be able to get information to people quicker,” Zonfrilli-Lang said.

Every hour Zonfrilli-Lang spends extensively reviewing legal documents and redactions is an hour stolen from securing the borough’s future by applying for grants and maintaining the financial books and daily operations that are required for a healthy municipality, she said.

The trend of appealing the borough’s responses also creates an even deeper service impact because appeals require more administrative time and legal fees that are paid with taxpayer dollars, Zonfrilli-Lang said.

On Tuesday, Zonfrilli-Lang sent out a letter to residents and borough council members stating she intends to build a “transparency hub” on the borough’s website to make public information more accessible.

For every borough council meeting going forward, Zonfrilli-Lang said she plans to attach minutes, reports and “detailed information” on the meeting’s agenda packet, which will be uploaded to the borough’s website.

Zonfrilli-Lang said she intends to create a Portage Borough Facebook page, from which monthly council meetings will be livestreamed in the future.

For the next budget year, Zonfrilli-Lang said she also wants to explore upgrading the borough’s website.

Officials currently have a contract with an individual who handles the website’s coding for the borough, Zonfrilli-Lang said, noting the website was built using the GoDaddy platform and there are other platforms, such as CivicPlus, that cater to government entities and have specific tools designed to increase transparency.

“It’s a very easy interface to use,” Zonfrilli-Lang said of CivicPlus. “It’s just part of a long-term plan that I want to put together for Portage.”

However, it’s going to take time to build those systems, Zonfrilli-Lang said, asking for the community’s patience and cooperation.

Zonfrilli-Lang noted she works at Portage part time and has office hours every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Full time, Zonfrilli-Lang is the assistant municipal manager of Monroeville.

“It’s going to take a while because I am not there full time. I’m only there on a part-time basis, but I definitely want to make sure that Portage Borough is receiving the information that they deserve to have,” Zonfrilli-Lang said.

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.