When I started as a councillor at Monash Council there were no Council email addresses for councillors. Councillor requests to officers were handwritten on three-ply carbon copy paper and then faxed into the councillors’ assistant for processing.
Fast-forward 15 years and thankfully times have changed. I was reminded just how much this morning while out for a Saturday morning jog.
About 30 minutes into my run, I was interrupted from this week’s audio edition of The Economist by a phone call. I answered it using my bluetooth headphones. It was a resident in Glen Waverley calling to tell me that significant trees were being removed from a property in her street and she suspected this was not permitted as the area is within Council’s Vegetation Protection Overlay. She said she had sent me an email 15 minutes earlier and was keen to see if anything could be done due to the irreversible nature of what was taking place.
Without breaking stride, I dictated an email using Siri to our CEO and Director for City Development asking if it was possible for someone to take a look.
Three minutes later, our CEO had replied confirming it would be followed up straight away. And indeed it was.
By the time I returned home from my run, the Director had visited the site, confirmed there were no permits in place allowing removal of the trees and put a stop to any more being felled (sadly, there weren’t left apparently). Now if only Council had just invested in a new Apple Watch for me, then I would have seen the resident’s email 15 minutes earlier!
Occasionally the tabloid media berate councillors and council officers for the salaries paid to senior council officers. Of course next to the average wage, they are paid pretty well. However, given the numbers of staff they oversee, the diversity of services they manage, the complexity of what they do and their dedication to their roles such as demonstrated here, they are certainly not over paid at all. They didn’t need to put on hold their Saturday morning family time today, but their passion for their jobs and their concern for the community they serve is why they did just that. And I really appreciate it as I am sure this particular resident does as well.
Monash Council has put much effort into improving customer service over the past 12 months and today’s example is not novel or unique. It is pleasing these sorts of efforts have been recognised by our community in the state government’s recent annual customer satisfaction survey which shows a significant increase in our customer service performance.
Long gone are the days of a two week turnaround for matters like this one which demand an immediate response. Thanks to modern technology and committed public servants, some important trees were saved today from an owner who should have know better (and who can now expect to be prosecuted).
And I didn’t even need to slow down during my run – save for the 30 seconds I needed to regroup after I tripped after taking the photo included in this post which I ill-advisedly took in my keenness to share this experience.
Maybe I should wait for next year’s expected second generation incarnation of the Apple Watch which is tipped to have a built in camera which will pose less of an occupational hazard for taking a selfie when one is on a run.
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