Showing posts with label Westminster govt customer service. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Westminster govt customer service. Show all posts

Friday, September 19, 2008

Survey results to be presented at Monday Westminster common council meeting

Survey results to be presented at Monday Westminster common council meeting

Carroll County Times News Briefs for Friday September 19, 2008

Survey results to be presented by Bryan Schutt

During the upcoming Westminster Common Council meeting Sept. 22, the planning department will present the results of a resident survey to the council.

About 6,000 surveys were sent out this summer, according to Thomas Beyard, director of planning and zoning. He said the city had about a 23 percent response rate.

The six-page survey was sent out in June, and it polled city residents on what they thought of city services.

Also at the council meeting, Beyard said the city will also review several utility connection rates detailed in the city code, but it won’t be talking about usage rates.

He said the water and sewer usage rates won’t be discussed until later this year, when there will be a public hearing before any final rate changes are made.

Monday’s discussion will be more of a tool to clean up the city code’s language so utility rates are easier to update on a yearly basis, Beyard said.


Bryan Schutt

20080919 Survey results to be presented at Monday council meeting

Monday, September 8, 2008

Thoughts on Westminster posting an agenda in a timely manner

Thoughts on Westminster posting an agenda in a timely manner

The existentialism of the simple task of Westminster city officials posting an agenda for its council meetings in a timely manner

September 8, 2008 by Kevin Dayhoff


After an e-mail to a city official earlier in the day; for which I never did get a response, the city of Westminster has finally posted an agenda on the city’s web site.

Heck, I’m just not sure what their rush was – the agenda was posted at approximately 3:22 pm. The meeting is 3 ½ hours away…

Since 2005 the city of Westminster has added two new positions – a city manager and a director of administration at an annual cost to the taxpayer of over $200,000 and yet the city can’t manage to get an council meeting agenda posted timely – or adopt a budget or have an annual audit performed on a timely basis.

The city spent anywhere from $20,000 to over $40,000, depending on whose version of the story suits your fancy, to move some offices to a rented building from City Hall and other offices from the rented building back over to City Hall; in order to provide better services. It was, in reality, rearranging the deck chairs on The Titanic. And yet the city all-too frequently can’t get an agenda posted on a timely basis.

The city increased taxes, increased the size of government, has borrowed money like there is no tomorrow and is actively discussing cutting back on city services – in order to serve us better. And yet the city seems to have a great deal of difficulty in posting an agenda on a timely basis on a web site that is so woefully inadequate and opaque, it often seems like the city resents even having a web site…

Web sites can be difficult as I am all too aware; however in theory, a web site is no longer an afterthought or a bother, it is a critical information dissemination resource in today’s governance. Then again there are many folks who find current Westminster government so opaque, unapproachable, and inaccessible, that the web site is probably emblematic of a government that all too often seems too annoyed by citizen contact to be bothered with disseminating information.

After-all, our elected officials are some of the smartest folks in the world – and they certainly know what is best for us; so having meaningful contact with the public is probably unnecessary now isn’t it?

I’m glad that Westminster citizens work for such an august group of elitists. It gives us a purpose in our backward shabby meager existence.

Related:

20071130 City municipal offices relocate by Ryan Marshall

20080611 No agenda is sign of poor government

20080720 Carroll County Times Westminster shutting out the public

20080908 Thoughts on Westminster posting an agenda in a timely manner

Saturday, December 8, 2007

20071130 City municipal offices relocate by Ryan Marshall

20071130 City municipal offices relocate by Ryan Marshall

Carroll County News Briefs for Friday, November 30, 2007

Carroll County Times: City municipal offices relocate

Thursday was moving day for some of Westminster’s municipal offices.

The city’s public works departments, planning staff and the office of the city administrator have moved from City Hall to 56 W. Main St., where the economic development and finance offices are already located.

The housing and human resources departments will move from that building to City Hall.

The shuffling was meant to get the city’s administrative offices together at the Main Street building, Mayor Thomas Ferguson said.

— Ryan Marshall

20071130 City municipal offices relocate by Ryan Marshall