Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Being the Best We Can Be


For several years I have talked in Council and out about identifying ways in which municipal services can be delivered in the most responsive, efficient and cost effective manner.

We are often complimented by other municipalities and our residents about the fine job we do in most areas of delivering the services our tax payers need.

Sometimes, however, residents and Councillors do point out that we could increase our efficiency and effectiveness. Without a doubt there are ‘out of the box’ ways, and ‘common sense’ ways to make better use of staff and resources. Thankfully, residents do care enough to communicate these ideas to their councillors. Well, elected officials take you very seriously. Never hesitate to call your Councillor with your comments.

Last week Council put out an ad to hire a team of professionals to come in and evaluate our way of doing business. By doing this, Council has shown its commitment to raising the standard of customer service in the delivery of municipal services. We created a terms of reference that will guide efficiency experts to review our policies and operations to raise the bar on customer service and response. Yes, the municipality does a good job but we want to do a better job for our residents. We want an ‘outside’ professional to evaluate our way of doing business and give us some ideas on how others do it differently to save tax payers dollars and deliver better customer service.