Email
Print
County critique improves services
Our Voice
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: November 26, 2008
Self-evaluation is an invaluable tool for positive improvement.
At a retreat last week, Catawba County governments used that tool to critique themselves in an attempted to address how to educate developers and the community on the services available through county and municipal governments.
They asked the question: How can we serve our customers better and foster good relationships with the people who most use our services?
With the help of a group of planners from New Hanover County and Wilmington, who came here to review government processes and practices, recommendations were made on how to help developers, builders and the general public navigate the systems necessary to do business in our county and towns.
The group looked at six studies from the county and its cities. They found the processes and the municipal staffs to be solid. It also found that too often staff members were giving advice to people trying to save them extra costs on consulting fees, rather than making the process smoother.
The reality is this practice could land a government official in hot water by offering unsound advice, resulting in a lawsuit.
We think it is a good idea to take inventory on how things are done in government every now and again to make sure as much of the red tape as possible is eliminated before the customer walks through the door. We think this will encourage positive change in our communities.
Here are some of the recommendations that came out of the meeting:
• Establish a culture of core communication practices.
• Establish a culture of education and learning.
• Work together to develop expectations of each other, communicate those expectations and invest time in guidance through and maintenance of expectations once established.
• Adopt a culture of "owning the problem" or not passing questions and requests to others.
• Re-allocate taxpayer resources from consulting to effective informing, advising, communication and education.
• Be firm, fair and consistent.
• Commit to support and promote each other's professionalism to potential builders, developers, owners and the public.
• Have government focus on providing excellent customer service, not consulting.
• Have the private sector focus on promoting and providing excellent consulting services to the public.
• Use common software, accessible to all jurisdictions.
• Form an education committee of Realtors, builders, developers and design professionals to establish and maintain continuing education credits.
Email
Print
ADVERTISEMENT
- Census 2000-2008 Subcounty Population Estimates
- Last Name Rankings
- 2009 Catawba Public Payroll
- RealtyTrac Foreclosure Database
- Home Improvement How-Tos
- Environmentally-Friendly Cars
- Text Messaging Dictionary
- Business Bankruptcies
- 2008 Toy Recall Database
- IRS Stimulus Check Database
- FBI Crime Database
- Golf Course Finder
- NASDTEC Sanctioned Teachers
- FBI Hate Crimes Database
- Worst Nursing Homes
- Recipe Swap
Advertisement
