County adopts plan to improve customer service
August 1, 2010
By Warren Kagarise
NEW — 6 a.m. Aug. 1, 2010
King County leaders adopted a roadmap last week to improve how county agencies deliver services to residents.
The document — the King County Strategic Plan — sets broad goals to foster economic development, shore up public safety and protect the environment through 2014.
Leaders hailed the plan as a comprehensive approach to overhaul the three branches of county government.
“This plan is a critical step toward a more efficient, more effective and more accountable King County,” County Executive Dow Constantine said in a statement. “For the first time members of the public, many of our employees, and all of the independently-elected officials of King County have collaborated on a unified vision of performance that will make us more responsive to those we serve, and help us identify opportunities for improved effectiveness and efficiencies in the way we do business.”
County Council members OK’d plan in unanimous decision July 19. Learn more about the plan here.
The plan emphasizes customer service as a priority for all county employees. Leaders called for creating single points of contact for residents, clients and county partners.
Other objectives include implementing of a unified management system for county operations, establishing accountability in service delivery and adopting technologies and processes to allow for more efficient work.
“This outline for service delivery is a huge step forward in linking county agencies to common goals and strategies,” Councilwoman Kathy Lambert — the Issaquah representative and chairwoman of the council Government Accountability and Oversight Committee — said in a statement.
The plan calls for the elected leadership of King County to meet at least twice a year to review performance and make course corrections as needed.
Leaders created the plan with input from thousands of residents and county employees across 18 months — in the first time the county has worked closely with people inside and outside of government to form a vision for the future.
“The plan will give us a way to demonstrate specifically to taxpayers how the county is measuring up to their expectations, and where improvements are needed,” Lambert said. “Regular reviews and revisions will create a feedback loop so that services can be adjusted to changing circumstances. Citizens have told us they want a responsive, accountable and transparent local government, and this collaboration among county agencies can accomplish it.”
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