Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Changes at City Hall

Changes at City Hall

Don’t expect to see or hear about what happened at City Hall Tuesday morning.  Personnel changes are not discussed, period.

The changes you can expect to see is the manner in which citizens are treated by our staff.  Tuesday afternoon I told the front office staff what I expected when John and Jane came through the front door or called on the phone.

First, when we have a visitor, we can expect that City Hall Staff will recognize the visitor with “Hello, I am Larry. How may I help you?” They will extend their hand offering a hand shake.

When you call, you will get a greeting “good morning (or afternoon), City of Concordia, (we don’t say “City Hall” any more. What City Hall is this?)  This is Larry, How may I help you?”  I shared this concept at the Department Head staff meeting today too.  I expect all of us to respond in the same fashion in person and on the phone.

Two simple greetings intended to tell folks we are here to help.

City Hall is on loan to us by the community so that we can help them with things they need.  There are very capable people waiting to help and I am pleased how they are taking to the new steps.

Tuesday night, I read another Blog I enjoy, Manager Tools (http://www.manager-tools.com/).  The third article down, also posted Tuesday, was a piece describing customer service.  It seems that Mark Horstman and I were on the same frequency.  I recommend reading his material AND listening to his pod casts.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We all sometimes need a reminder to be a little more polite. I had a previous problem with being given incorrect information when I asked about something at City Hall. I went to the library and looked the subject up in the city ordinance book. Now I know what is what.
I thought I had a problem with my water quality one day and called the city hall. Twenty minutes later a guy was at my house testing my water. My family still can't believe the prompt attention I got. At my old town, it would not have happened in 20 years.

Anonymous said...

Hello welcome to walmart?....Window dressing. The problem with a sharp axe is you never know where it will drop next.