Paula Hughes on City/County Co-location
Posted by AWB in City & County Government, Fort WayneThis does not necessarily represent the opinion of this blog.
City/County Co-location: Taking Care of Business
The issue of co-location has been on the minds of most everyone these days. City and county councils are concerned about the cost benefits of such a move. The Mayor and the Commissioners have concerns about functionality. The media has asked for more transparency in the process. The members of the task force struggled through personal and policy confrontations, as well as individual priorities to reach a common goal. Business leaders became frustrated with a protracted and contentious process that they felt reflected negatively on our communities’ ability to attract jobs. Through all this, the citizens of Fort Wayne and Allen County watched and wondered, not just about the end result of these discussions, but about how it will affect them in terms of taxes, ease of interaction with local government and pride in our community.
The one significant gap in the discussions I have seen so far has been a focus on customer service. Today, a business owner who wants to build a building in Allen County must navigate a bureaucratic labyrinth of offices scattered over several square miles of downtown and near-north Fort Wayne. There are 14 offices to visit and receive approval from and no help for the weary traveler who just wants to build or expand a business and hire local residents. In frustration many give up and go elsewhere.
It’s time that we started TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS in Fort Wayne. Today we can reverse this sad state of affairs; today we can start the process to light up our welcome sign and say to the business world, “We are open, we are ready and we want you!”
It is mandatory that all 14 offices in the routing process be located or represented in routing order on the first floor of the new Renaissance Square location. I propose that there be priority parking in front – let employees and elected officials park in the back of the lot – with big welcome signs and directions on how to get “down to business” in Fort Wayne and Allen County. I propose that the first person you see when you walk into the first floor isn’t security but a friendly greeter who directs you to where you need to go. If Wal-Mart can do it, so can we! If you are building or expanding a business, you will be directed to our Business Concierge Service. We will have a single point of contact to guide you through our self-imposed bureaucratic maze. We will make it easy to locate, build and hire here in Allen County. We can do this today, we can reverse the sins of the past and we can make a real difference by simply using common sense and being polite.
We can do this for business and we should. Our customer service attitude doesn’t have to stop there. Currently, our neighborhood advocates are hidden away in ninth floor offices. We need to send a definitive message to our neighborhoods today. They are wanted, they are needed and they are the lifeblood of our city. Move neighborhood advocates to the first floor, open the process of communication and prioritize them now.
We must look at the services that our city provides, and we must look at how we can do so in the most convenient, cost effective and friendly way. Let’s consider what is good for the people who pay for the buildings, the salaries and the services. Let’s consider the needs of our customers, not the next election. Let’s consider how we look to our neighbors and to the world by taking care of businesses, working with our citizens and making our interaction easy and pleasant.
My parents taught me that using common sense and being polite are two of the most basic building blocks of success. It is time we apply these two principles in local government and in this process of co-location. This will be my mission as we move forward. I ask my friends and colleagues to get behind the concepts of common sense and being polite by locating our routing on the first floor, providing easy access for neighbors and greeting every citizen with a welcoming smile.
Paula Hughes
President, Allen County Council
If you find this article informative? Consider donating any amount you choose.
No related posts.
Tags: Paula Hughes, Renaissance Square
Entries (RSS)
I think that is a wonderful idea. A welcoming smile goes a long way. Although I do know a security officer at the City County Building and he always goes out of his way to say hello, to ask how I am doing, and what I am going downtown to do; I think it would be nice if everyone got that same opportunity. A smile and being polite really goes a long way. It makes lasting relationships even if someone doesn't remember the name of the person who greeted them and people will think favorably of them.
I think that is a fabulous idea.
If this is an example of conservative Republican thinking in these troubled financial times, we might as well keep Tom Henry and company. First of all, politicians (and in this case Paula Hughes) need to get past the bad assumption that constituents are incapable of doing for themselves, especially in this enlightened electronic age.
The city and county need to expand services through the internet that will eliminate the necessity of traipsing through fourteen offices to do business with the government. We need to have the public payroll reduced, not expanded … and we need to quit honoring the demands of government-employee unions. In doing so, we can end government pension liability in favor of the 401K plans that the rest of the employed world depend upon. We need to reduce the freebie health insurance that exists today … even before Barack's plan takes over.
We can get the public payroll down by modernizing computerized systems. Is it really true that we are writing county checks on a typewriter? We need to get rid of the regional advocates huddled on the ninth floor and we certainly don't need Wal-Mart greeters. What we didn't need was Renaissance Square, so what we now need to find something to do with it … other than expand government to fill the space provided.
Renaissance Square is now the boat-anchor to be used as the excuse for not combining Fort Wayne and Allen County into a uni-gov. The politicians are content and the taxpayers are once-again SCREWED.
IMHO, Paula's letter not the way to win votes in the mayoral election.