<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Town council report card not ranking exercise, says Grace Fu
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Aaron Low
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->THE Government's impending move to assess town councils should not be seen as a ranking exercise, says Senior Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu.
It should instead be viewed as a way to give HDB residents the facts that will help them engage better with their town councils on estate management issues, Ms Fu said yesterday after a Housing Board event.
For this reason, punishing town councils that perform badly in the assessment, like reducing government grants, is 'not envisaged at the moment', she added.
Her comments came one ady after her ministry and HDB announced that they were going to assess all 16 town councils that manage HDB estates and produce the report card by next year.
The announcement led council chairmen like Ms Denise Phua to worry that it could lead to town councils putting too much focus on getting high scores for such assessments.
In In response, Mrs Fu said: "i don't think you should go with the impression that it is a ranking system."
She stressed that 'the whole purpose of (the report) is to allow residents and town councils to have an objective set of numbers to talk about'.
It is why the Government is asking experts such as property consultants and academics for their input on the list of criteria for assessing the councils.
"We will allow town councils to have as much authority as possible, while keeping an eye on critical areas that affect safety and so on," she added.
The Ministry of National Development, which oversees public housing, will roll out several consultation exercises in the next few months to ask people how they want town councils to be assessed.
The Government is suggesting three main areas: cleanliness of the estate, maintenance of facilities and financial management.
The final checklist, after taking into account public feedback, is to be ready by end-September and used to evaluate the performance of the councils.
The results will be released next year in the Town Council Management Report.
Ms Fu stressed that the proposed three areas of assessment are not cast in stone and that the Government is keen to hear from both town councils and residents.
For financial management, she said all councils must report their finances annually. This includes the balance sheet and how much money is collected from residents. However, she added, "it is not for the government to micro manage the town councils." If it wanted to, it would not have involved estate management functions to them in the first place, she said.
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Aaron Low
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->THE Government's impending move to assess town councils should not be seen as a ranking exercise, says Senior Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu.
It should instead be viewed as a way to give HDB residents the facts that will help them engage better with their town councils on estate management issues, Ms Fu said yesterday after a Housing Board event.
For this reason, punishing town councils that perform badly in the assessment, like reducing government grants, is 'not envisaged at the moment', she added.
Her comments came one ady after her ministry and HDB announced that they were going to assess all 16 town councils that manage HDB estates and produce the report card by next year.
The announcement led council chairmen like Ms Denise Phua to worry that it could lead to town councils putting too much focus on getting high scores for such assessments.
In In response, Mrs Fu said: "i don't think you should go with the impression that it is a ranking system."
She stressed that 'the whole purpose of (the report) is to allow residents and town councils to have an objective set of numbers to talk about'.
It is why the Government is asking experts such as property consultants and academics for their input on the list of criteria for assessing the councils.
"We will allow town councils to have as much authority as possible, while keeping an eye on critical areas that affect safety and so on," she added.
The Ministry of National Development, which oversees public housing, will roll out several consultation exercises in the next few months to ask people how they want town councils to be assessed.
The Government is suggesting three main areas: cleanliness of the estate, maintenance of facilities and financial management.
The final checklist, after taking into account public feedback, is to be ready by end-September and used to evaluate the performance of the councils.
The results will be released next year in the Town Council Management Report.
Ms Fu stressed that the proposed three areas of assessment are not cast in stone and that the Government is keen to hear from both town councils and residents.
For financial management, she said all councils must report their finances annually. This includes the balance sheet and how much money is collected from residents. However, she added, "it is not for the government to micro manage the town councils." If it wanted to, it would not have involved estate management functions to them in the first place, she said.
