Customer Service Innovations

The new head of the Department of Social and Health Services, Alan Gibbs, has spent months formulating proposals that take into account different levels of funding and services. In the past, the state has tended to cut programs in the same percentages that the federal government has, and the state has also made wholesale program cuts that appear to Gibbs to be shortsighted in their implementation.

Gibbs put a process in place which was comprehensive and used advisory groups and commissions for feedback as well as state employees, but no provision was made for public hearings. Although Gibbs has enjoyed a good relationship with the press, there is concern that a lack of public hearings could cause a political backlash. There is only a short period of time between now and when the Department of Social and Health Services must submit its recommendations, and Gibbs must decide whether and how to hold public hearings given the cost and time constraints of the situation.

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ncouraged to this point. Public hearings could also evolve into little more than "gripe" sessions where representatives of special interest groups who will be losing program funds actively compete with one another in order to generate publicity for their programs. Alternatively, opponents of social services could use public hearings to talk about welfare fraud and other isolated incidents where the system has been abused in order to further their own agendas of cutting social service funding either more. Public hearings are, by their very nature, unpredictable, and could prove problematic from a public relations and political standpoint. This is particularly true if some interest groups fail to participate in the hearing process and are perceived to be less important than other groups. For all of the disadvantages associated with holding public hearings, they remain a strong tool which would be withheld only at great political peril. Public hearings give participants the opportunity to have their say in the process, and good input can result. Failing to hold any hearings would likely lead to charges of impropriety, and given the state's poor financial status at this time, would cause additional difficulties for those trying
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Approximate Word count = 3908
Approximate Pages = 16 (250 words per page)

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