Gillingham wants to bring ‘yes’ culture, better customer service to city hall

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This article was published 18/09/2022 (828 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mayoral candidate Scott Gillingham wants to bring better customer service to city hall.

Gillingham, a city councillor for the past eight years who is running for mayor, said he wants to implement a “yes” culture in which civic staff will do everything they can legally and practically to help residents and investors.

“We task some of our departments with policy, regulation, enforcement and service all at the same time and, sometimes, those goals are colliding,” Gillingham said in a statement released Monday.

If he is elected he will work with councillors and senior civic managers to reorganize departments to move public-facing customer service areas, such as 311 and permit approvals, into a single department, as well as merging together scattered bylaw enforcement units to improve standards and increase cross-training, he said.

The reorganization wouldn’t add any new managers, but he would like to hire six case officers to speed up approval of permits and development, Gillingham said.

The new case officers would report to the new customer service department, and not property, planning and development, so they can council and senior management know directly about any problematic delays, he said.

Kevin Rollason
Reporter

Kevin Rollason is one of the more versatile reporters at the Winnipeg Free Press. Whether it is covering city hall, the law courts, or general reporting, Rollason can be counted on to not only answer the 5 Ws — Who, What, When, Where and Why — but to do it in an interesting and accessible way for readers.

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