As I draw near to the election day November 5, 2019 – I find myself contemplating these last 22 months in office and what it means to be a city.
In my humble opinion, every city is unique…
with a group of people coming together to be stewards of each other and of the land they declare within those boundaries
Every second Thursday of the month “we the people” of Lake Helen meet in public gathering at City Hall to discuss the state of the city and make decisions on trending issues.
We as individuals place a certain degree of trust in each other,
collectively we pool money together to maintain our city (hence why it’s important to attend the budget workshops).
In the city of Lake Helen every two years we have an opportunity to share these responsibilities by electing members from within our city to represent our voice, to be the oversight and hold city staff accountable to the daily operations of the city- which include- road and park maintanance, water service and billing, policing, permitting, setting public meetings, accounting for all aspects of finances, along with all the other state mandates that must be met by dates and deadlines.
The city – while it may not be a “business” – is a service provider. Which means in my opinion – it’s in the people business, and providing best customer service is important.
I believe that the best investment a city can make is in good customer service training. Every city staff, wether it be a public works, parks maintenance, police, adminstrative assistant… is a representative of the city. Every contact these ‘city representatives’ make with the public builds up or tears down the city.
In an era where “Made in America” labels are so scarce… I believe that America can rise to the top by becoming the the best customer service nation in the world. …and how do we do that?
It starts with each and everyone of us first. LOVE THY NEIGHBOR.
Great strength comes with strong foundations. Simple things like waving at your neighbor, caring enough to knock on someones door and instead of complaining – reach out and ask if they need help. Being polite, greeting someone when they come into your presence or saying goodbye when they leave. Saying thank you to small acts of kindness.
Stretch these small acts of kindness to the workplace. If you work for someone, a company or the government – Do things not for the dollar but for the heart of it. LEAVE YOUR MARK… not by what you do – BUT HOW YOU MADE SOMEONE FEEL.
The way I see things … more Artificial Intelligence is being used in the workplace – (heck! trucks are driving themselves now!) what does that mean to the human factor when we choose to be serviced by Artificial Intelligence? Is it that we don’t care enough, don’t trust each other, or don’t care to treat each other with respect, compassion and empathy?
What I learned in these last two years as Mayor for the city of Lake Helen: people have valuable ideas and insights, talents, skills, resources – and our residents really really care about Lake Helen. I also learned that people -while some may not be outspoken- appreciate being kept informed. I also learned that lack of information and connection can lead to mistrust – which is why my mission has been to be a champion for communication – even if we don’t agree at least we’re talking – and that’s a good thing!
Imagine if we loved our city government as much as we love our city.
(the music tune of Louis Armstrong: What a Wonderful World just popped in my head). I think overall Lake Helen city government customer service is good… and I believe there is still room for improvement.
I also know that elected officials are in that awkward position where they are not staff… but get to see all the work behind the scenes. Elected officials also are citizens and taxpayers… each elected official is an “elected” representative of the city and in public service to the citizens- and therefore Customer Service is a priority.
To provide good customer service we ALL should keep remembering we are not “artificial intelligence”, remember “Love thy Neighbor”, remember we are each other’s stewards.
