THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 24, 1995 TAG: 9509220221
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Another View
SOURCE: BY DOLORES MOORE
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
The focus of your editorial ``Another barrier,'' (The Clipper, Sept. 15) lacked pertinent information regarding the installation of a service counter in the office of the mayor, the City Council and the city clerk. I felt obligated to respond to the editorial to inform the public of the reason I decided, not the mayor or the council, to have the counter installed. The city is constructing no wall or barricade on the sixth floor of City Hall. This office is a public facility and will always be open to the public. However, it is imperative that the office is safe for the public and staff. There will be a four-foot-high service counter constructed in the office of the mayor, the City Council and the city clerk. The counter will have a top approximately eight inches wide to give citizens a convenient place to fill out various forms and applications and a location for residents to pick up public information items.
The counter will have an electronic door that office staff will operate. Security was a factor in my decision for the installation of the counter. My concern, however, was not limited to ensuring the safety of the council. During business hours, the mayor and the council are only present in the office for a limited amount of time. All of the council members have full-time employment, and often come into the office after hours or as their schedules allow. During that limited amount of time, council members often meet with members of the business community, various city staff and most important, members of the community with concerns. The individuals who are most often present in this office are the office staff, other city employees and citizens requiring the services of this department. The office of the mayor, the City Council and city clerk is a department with a large amount of citizen-employee interaction. During the average business day, the staff of this office will provide citizens and other city departments with research into City Council actions, direct citizens to various city departments and agencies for services, receive correspondence for the council from citizens and greet and fulfill many citizens' requests. All of the services require face-to-face interaction with many people. It is imperative that this office provide these services to citizens, staff and the council in an environment as free of violence and intimidation as possible.
I challenge you to go into any office building, including the offices of The Virginian-Pilot, and find the administrative offices as accessible as those on the sixth floor of City Hall. Please visit the City Hall building and see the counters built in the various departments along with our beautiful building several years ago. I also invite you to contact me to set up a convenient time to visit the office. You can see firsthand where the counter will be and how shortsighted the assumption that the city is implementing ``another barrier'' between city government and its constituents.
I leave you with this quotation from Robert West: ``Nothing is easier than fault finding; no talent, no self-denial, no brains, no character is required to set up in the grumbling process.'' MEMO: Dolores Moore is City Clerk.
ILLUSTRATION: Dolores Moore
by CNB