How the Screw-O-Meter works

The Screw-O-Meter is the headline number: a 0-to-5 reading of how a council — or an individual member — is performing against the principles good governance is supposed to uphold. Here’s the short version of how it’s built.

Start with the record

Every agenda item and vote comes straight from the public record. We don’t editorialize the inputs — who voted, how they voted, and what was decided are all matters of public fact.

Weigh each decision against the principles

Each decision is evaluated against 15 governing principles — transparency, public interest, fairness, stewardship, and others. Where a decision runs against a principle, it’s flagged by severity, so a minor process lapse doesn’t count the same as a clear violation of the public trust.

Roll it up into a score

Those weighted signals roll up into the 0-to-5 reading you see on the meter — one for each member, and one for the body as a whole.

The score is a starting point for scrutiny, not the last word. It’s designed to tell you where to look, then hand you the underlying votes so you can judge for yourself.

That transparency — score on top, receipts underneath — is the whole point.