Uiwang City Selected as 'National Happiness Civic Services Center' by Ministry of Interior and Safety

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Kim Chung-young] Uiwang City unveiled a plaque for an excellent certification agency of the 'National Happiness Civic Services Center' at the entrance of the City Hall Civic Services Office, signaling a strong start to the new year.

The city held the plaque ceremony on the 4th with some 30 attendees, including Uiwang City Mayor Kim Sung-je, Uiwang City Council Chairman Kim Hak-ki, city council members, and city employees.

Accordingly, the Uiwang City Hall Civic Services Center will operate as a National Happiness Civic Services Center for three years until 2026, and the city plans to pursue re-certification in 2026 by focusing on improvements to internal and external environments and services.

The 'National Happiness Civic Services Center Certification System' is a program by the Ministry of Interior and Safety to comprehensively evaluate administrative agencies nationwide, including local governments, provincial offices of education, and police stations, on 26 items including △interior and exterior space of civic services centers and efficient space layout △convenience facilities for socially disadvantaged groups △creating a safe civic services environment, etc., to certify excellent agencies and improve citizen convenience and service quality. Certification as an excellent National Happiness Civic Services Center is valid for three years.

Since first being selected as an excellent National Happiness Civic Services Center in 2015, the city challenged re-certification and achieved the feat of being re-selected as an excellent National Happiness Civic Services Center in 2023.

The city received high marks for its efforts in improving the civic services center environment by implementing universal design for easy access by all, enhancing civic services for citizens, and creating a safe civic services environment.

Additionally, the city operates a 'civic services processing mileage system' that provides incentives to civil servants who process civic matters faster than the legal processing period by granting mileage equivalent to the reduced processing time, thereby encouraging quick civic services processing.

Notably, the city received recognition for its efforts to provide citizen-oriented civic services by conducting a courtesy survey through visits and monitoring by a courtesy evaluation team targeting all departments of the main office and affiliated agencies in November of last year, and subsequently implementing civic service quality improvement training based on the results.

Mayor Kim Sung-je of Uiwang City urged employees, saying, "I hope that you will take pride and responsibility in being certified as the National Happiness Civic Services Center and handle civic services with kindness, speed, and accuracy." He added, "We will continue to make greater efforts to provide civic services that bring happiness and joy to the citizens of Uiwang City."