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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - Why only now PAP TCs open books?</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
Subscribe </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgF noWrap align=right width="1%">From: </TD><TD class=msgFname noWrap width="68%">kojakbt22 <NOBR>
</NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate noWrap align=right width="30%">Dec-28 8:08 pm </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT noWrap align=right width="1%" height=20>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname noWrap width="68%">ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 6) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft width="1%" rowSpan=4> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>4480.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Good move to assess town councils' work
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Informed residents can use Govt report card to press for improvement</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
FOR the first time in 20 years, Housing Board flat owners islandwide may be able to find out exactly how their town council is faring compared to the others.
Senior Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu gave a glimpse of this prospect when she disclosed recently that a performance management system assessing how town councils run their estates will be ready next year.
This system could also look into the councils' financial management, given the reaction to news that eight of the 14 town councils run by the People's Action Party (PAP) invested a small portion of their sinking funds in troubled structured products.
The impact of such a report card, when made public, cannot be understated. For years now, residents have not been able to make meaningful assessments of their council's positions because they have lacked adequate information.
Aside from simple judgments such as how clean their block was, or how often the lifts broke down, it was difficult to tell how one town council was faring against others.
It is hard to tell whether a town council has inadequate or excessive reserves unless one analyses the number, age and type of HDB flats under its care. As a portion of each month's service and conservancy charge is set aside for cyclical repairs and major projects, councils that run more - or older - flats will naturally have bigger reserves.
Moreover, smaller flats attract larger government grants - part of which is set aside as reserves - and this too will swell the kitty of some councils more than those of others.
Without the benefit of such information, it would be almost impossible to tell whether the service and conservancy fees each council collects from residents every month are adequate.
The lack of information leads to simplistic comparisons, a common lament among PAP town councils which raised fees in 2004 and were promptly taunted by the two opposition town councils for doing so.
Over the years, individual town councils have come up with improvements such as using specialised cleaning equipment and energy-saving bulbs, but residents have no way of gauging the impact of these innovations in the absence of a clear set of benchmarks by which town councils can be judged.
Such a report card, apart from bringing clarity, will also introduce some element of competition among town councils.
A parallel can be drawn with the Ministry of Health's move to publicise the size of hospital bills. It triggered almost immediate price cuts at hospitals that were charging more.
Granted, flat owners are not exactly in a position to shop around for town councils, as patients can among hospitals, but the report card will put enough pressure on town councils to buck up in areas where they are lacking.
For the performance management system to be taken seriously, though, it must be transparent. Internet chatter is already rife that partisanship might creep into the appraisals, given that town councils - headed by elected Members of Parliament - were created in part to show voters the difference that electing a good or bad candidate to office can make.
Bluntly put, a report card showing a PAP town council faring worse than an opposition town council would be a slap in the face of the ruling party - and vice versa.
Still, the Ministry of National Development must persevere in giving a true and fair picture. Having a respected, credible and transparent grading system will allow HDB flat owners to take an informed interest in their estates. It will also raise management standards all round by subjecting poorer performing town councils to public scrutiny.
The performance appraisal system should be designed in such a way as to point town councils towards areas that can be improved, rather than just highlight bad performance. The system should act as much as a spur as a mirror. It should strike a fine balance between rewarding excellence and incentivising best practices.
It would be helpful, for example, if town councils were graded on their employment of locals - who tend to be paid more than foreign workers - so that residents being charged higher maintenance fees know where their money is going to.
Grades might also be awarded on how environmentally-conscious the councils are, as well as the amount of effort they put into making estates disabled- and elderly-friendly. Efforts in these and other areas should earn town councils points.
The way in which the councils collect suggestions from residents, and what they do with their feedback, should also be taken into account in the assessment, for the whole logic of devolving authority to town councils was to create institutions closer to the people.
The 'best practice indicators' should be used alongside more standard benchmarks such as rating the cleanliness of estates, the incidence of killer litter and the efficiency with which town councils collect arrears in service and conservancy fees. If done well, this performance management system will give to both HDB flat owners and town council officials a holistic picture. With the right will and attitude, the system can nurture more engaged residents and better town councils.
[email protected]
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</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Informed residents can use Govt report card to press for improvement</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
FOR the first time in 20 years, Housing Board flat owners islandwide may be able to find out exactly how their town council is faring compared to the others.
Senior Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu gave a glimpse of this prospect when she disclosed recently that a performance management system assessing how town councils run their estates will be ready next year.
This system could also look into the councils' financial management, given the reaction to news that eight of the 14 town councils run by the People's Action Party (PAP) invested a small portion of their sinking funds in troubled structured products.
The impact of such a report card, when made public, cannot be understated. For years now, residents have not been able to make meaningful assessments of their council's positions because they have lacked adequate information.
Aside from simple judgments such as how clean their block was, or how often the lifts broke down, it was difficult to tell how one town council was faring against others.
It is hard to tell whether a town council has inadequate or excessive reserves unless one analyses the number, age and type of HDB flats under its care. As a portion of each month's service and conservancy charge is set aside for cyclical repairs and major projects, councils that run more - or older - flats will naturally have bigger reserves.
Moreover, smaller flats attract larger government grants - part of which is set aside as reserves - and this too will swell the kitty of some councils more than those of others.
Without the benefit of such information, it would be almost impossible to tell whether the service and conservancy fees each council collects from residents every month are adequate.
The lack of information leads to simplistic comparisons, a common lament among PAP town councils which raised fees in 2004 and were promptly taunted by the two opposition town councils for doing so.
Over the years, individual town councils have come up with improvements such as using specialised cleaning equipment and energy-saving bulbs, but residents have no way of gauging the impact of these innovations in the absence of a clear set of benchmarks by which town councils can be judged.
Such a report card, apart from bringing clarity, will also introduce some element of competition among town councils.
A parallel can be drawn with the Ministry of Health's move to publicise the size of hospital bills. It triggered almost immediate price cuts at hospitals that were charging more.
Granted, flat owners are not exactly in a position to shop around for town councils, as patients can among hospitals, but the report card will put enough pressure on town councils to buck up in areas where they are lacking.
For the performance management system to be taken seriously, though, it must be transparent. Internet chatter is already rife that partisanship might creep into the appraisals, given that town councils - headed by elected Members of Parliament - were created in part to show voters the difference that electing a good or bad candidate to office can make.
Bluntly put, a report card showing a PAP town council faring worse than an opposition town council would be a slap in the face of the ruling party - and vice versa.
Still, the Ministry of National Development must persevere in giving a true and fair picture. Having a respected, credible and transparent grading system will allow HDB flat owners to take an informed interest in their estates. It will also raise management standards all round by subjecting poorer performing town councils to public scrutiny.
The performance appraisal system should be designed in such a way as to point town councils towards areas that can be improved, rather than just highlight bad performance. The system should act as much as a spur as a mirror. It should strike a fine balance between rewarding excellence and incentivising best practices.
It would be helpful, for example, if town councils were graded on their employment of locals - who tend to be paid more than foreign workers - so that residents being charged higher maintenance fees know where their money is going to.
Grades might also be awarded on how environmentally-conscious the councils are, as well as the amount of effort they put into making estates disabled- and elderly-friendly. Efforts in these and other areas should earn town councils points.
The way in which the councils collect suggestions from residents, and what they do with their feedback, should also be taken into account in the assessment, for the whole logic of devolving authority to town councils was to create institutions closer to the people.
The 'best practice indicators' should be used alongside more standard benchmarks such as rating the cleanliness of estates, the incidence of killer litter and the efficiency with which town councils collect arrears in service and conservancy fees. If done well, this performance management system will give to both HDB flat owners and town council officials a holistic picture. With the right will and attitude, the system can nurture more engaged residents and better town councils.
[email protected]
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