Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Kuhl: Let's have courtesy, respect - and answers

By ASJYLYN LODER
Published December 17, 2006

BROOKSVILLE - Hernando County is "at your service," County Administrator Gary Kuhl pledges.

"There's not some specific example," Kuhl said, "but I just detect in the county that there's some feeling on the part of residents that we're not always ...positive."

Wary of the "negativity" that so infamously discouraged Gary Adams, his predecessor, Kuhl decided to turn the county's "naughty" to "nice."

On Nov. 8, he sent a letter to all county workers.

"Have you checked your attitude lately to make sure you have the 'at your service' attitude?" he said. "Believe it or not, your attitude shows, and we all know it's not always easy to let it shine."

Commissioner Jeff Stabins agreed, saying, "We all need to work harder to be good public servants. We're all very fortunate, I think, to have county jobs, and our citizens deserve to be treated with the highest respect."

Kuhl's goal is to make sure that inquiries are always handled with courtesy and respect.

That doesn't mean folks will always get the answer they want, but Kuhl would like, at least, to make sure they do get an answer - preferably without being transferred to umpteen successively less helpful staffers.

"Serving the public can be extremely gratifying, but it can also take its toll on our attitude and present us with daily challenges that are not easy to meet," Kuhl wrote.

That's perhaps a nice way of saying the occasional caller can be, well, rude.

Said Stabins: "We should all be very cheerful, especially during the holidays."

Asjylyn Loder can be reached at aloder@sptimes.com or 352 754-6127.

[Last modified December 16, 2006, 20:42:58]