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# PROVISIONAL URBAN COUNCIL

One dictionary defines "millennium" as "a period of peace, happiness, prosperity and ideal government".

Thus "millennium" has the implicit meaning of expectation and good wish. The more advanced society becomes, the higher the people's expectations. This is just the natural course of development.

As a body serving the public for over 100 years, this Council has all along been providing and improving its services with enterprise. While the Council has been able to initiate good policies and attain remarkable achievements, its development still cannot break away from the framework of convention. As we enter a new era, we ought to make some thorough reforms. In this connection, I would like to propose a few points for Members' consideration :

1. Have a change in focus? We should treat the public as our customers and evaluate the delivery of municipal services from customers' point of view. I have previously mentioned that we should find out and analyze "customers' values" so as to know in good time public response and their needs for municipal services. Based on these findings, we are in a better position to provide services to their satisfaction.

2. Adopt new management skills? The staff should be encouraged to rise to challenges and make continuous improvement. For instance, as I have earlier suggested, Total Quality Management should be introduced as the fundamental organization culture of this Council. This would help to raise staff morale, improve our ability to provide municipal services and fulfil our commitments to the public.

3. Capture information? Like many other trades and professions, the provision of municipal services in the 21st century will also rely very much on knowledge. To be able to capture information and transform it into useful knowledge will keep us in touch with the pulse of the system and facilitate us to make adjustments in our operation to cope with changes. The municipal services information infrastructure I am expecting may even help promote municipal services developments with foresight.

4. Maintain closer cooperation with other organizations? The development of a society has countless ties with the different social strata which are closely linked with each other. In the provision of municipal services on areas such as environmental health, culture, entertainment, sports or recreational activities, we should consider enlisting broader and more in-depth cooperation from the whole society. For instance, we can work with education institutions, social organizations and commercial bodies, etc. Such cooperation should not be limited to the launching of individual municipal activity. Cooperation should also be sought in planning social development programmes on a macro perspective. We can then provide municipal services more effectively on one hand, and build up a more harmonious relationship in society on the other hand.