[Editorial] "Citizens' Voices as Starting Point of Administration"...Pyeongtaek City Significantly Strengthens Civil Complaint Functions

Civil complaints are the most critical concern for all local governments and public agencies. Accordingly, kindness training regarding service improvement for civil complaint staff and methods to resolve dissatisfied complaints are being conducted. The main focus is that public officials should build trust with citizens through a perspective of empathy. Of course, various response methods for malicious complaints causing serious difficulties in handling are not overlooked.

Along with kindness training for civil complaint administrative services intended to impress citizens, the courtesy of responding officials is also checked through continuous monitoring of complaints. Nevertheless, complaints about civil services persist. Therefore, continued deliberation on courteous, prompt, and responsible civil complaint response is ongoing.

Pyeongtaek City has taken active steps in response. It is pursuing organizational restructuring that significantly strengthens civil complaint functions. Mayor Choi Won-yong announced that civil complaint functions will be substantially enhanced to resolve citizens' complaints more quickly and responsibly. The city has decided to expand and reorganize civil complaint functions that belonged to the Administration and Self-Governance Bureau and establish a new "Civil Complaint Service Bureau." It announced that under the Civil Complaint Service Bureau, it will place the "One-Stop Civil Complaint Division," "Civil Complaint Service Division," "Building Permit Division," and "Housing Division." (Related article: News S, 11th, "Pyeongtaek City Establishes Civil Complaint Service Bureau to Prioritize Citizens' Requests") On the 8th, it also announced legislation for the "Partial Amendment Ordinance to Pyeongtaek City Administrative Organization and Staffing."

Mayor Choi Won-yong has consistently emphasized that citizens' voices will serve as the starting point for administration. In his inaugural address, describing himself as a field-oriented administrator, he said, "The life of citizens lies within a single line of a civil complaint, and the essence of problems becomes visible when we go to the field." Mayor Choi's view of treating complaints as precious and finding answers in the field is entirely correct. All public officials should keep his words that "the reason for the existence of public agencies is the citizens" in their minds and inscribe them in their hearts.

The newly established One-Stop Civil Complaint Division in this organizational restructuring is the lead department of the Civil Complaint Service Bureau. As Mayor Choi's signature pledge, it handles all matters from civil complaint reception to processing at once. From citizens' perspectives, civil complaints can be processed more conveniently. Until now, complex complaints required citizens to go through the inconvenience of searching for different departments and responsible personnel.

In particular, the Building Permit Division and Housing Division, which have handled duties closely related to citizens' lives such as building permits, forestry and agricultural land conversion, apartment management, residential welfare, general housing construction, and advertisements, now belong to the Civil Complaint Service Bureau, which is expected to reduce the inconvenience of citizens having to visit multiple departments and enable smooth civil complaint processing.

It is hoped that Mayor Choi Won-yong's "citizen-centered civil complaint service" with the view that "civil complaints are not merely administrative tasks to be processed but the starting point of city administration where citizens' voices can be heard most closely" takes root in Pyeongtaek and spreads to all local governments, agencies, public enterprises, and further to private companies throughout Korea.