For the second year, the city of Huntsville’s website has won a national award from the Sunshine Review, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting government transparency.

The mayor was informed earlier this month that the city’s website, one of 214 out of 6,000 government sites monitored by the Sunshine Review to win a Sunny Award, had earned a transparency grade of A.

The Huntsville City Council recognized city staff at its regular session Tuesday for the award.

“We’re so excited that our IT staff won this award for a website that reflects the transparency of our city government, said council member Tish Humphrey, who announced the award.

The city received a perfect score for transparency based on the following, according to the Sunshine Review:

Budgets for the past five years are posted;

City Council minutes and agendas are published;

Administrative officials are listed in their departments as well as in the city staff directory.

Information on permits and other requirements are posted;

There is a procedure for requesting public records;

Information on tax rates is available.

The Sunshine Review noted as its only negative that the city’s website did not include information on lobbying. Huntsville pays memberships dues to the Texas Municipal League, a lobbying association funded by tax dollars.

For more information about the Sunshine Review, visit http://sunshinereview.org/core/home.