Jeff Kimel: A model of accountability
As we reported, there were errors on a substantial number of water bills. We posted a blog entry about it here at Scoop. The first (and so far only) person to comment was Jeff Kimel, the billing manager for the Water Resources Department.
His comment reflect, I think, exactly how a public servant should take responsibility for his actions:
"I'm Jeff Kimel and I am the Manager for billing for Water Resources. I want to offer my sincere apology for the billing error in cycles 15 and 16. For this, I take sole responsibility as Manager of the Division. The error that occurred was something we had not seen before and steps are now being taken to ensure it does not happen again. This is especially important as we begin phasing in all of our quarterly accounts to monthly billing. My plans are to have everyone within the city limits on montly billing by the end of the calendar year. This will start with our southern residents (cycles 21-28) within the next couple of months.
"I want to thank the News and Record and other media outlets for getting our billing error information out in a timely matter.
jeff"
Comments (3)
To report abuse of the comment feature on this site, please use the feedback form at the bottom of any page.
Wow. What a breath of fresh air. Kudos to Jeff Kimel. How much grief would have been spared if others had been as forthcoming!
And I can't wait to get a monthly bill.
So, Ms. Banks, did you have any say regarding the editorial today about Mitch Johnson?
Good work all around.
Posted on February 14, 2008 12:46 PM
Hello, Preacher Joel:
This is probably the worst answer I could give, but it's the truth: I haven't read the editorial yet. In fact, I haven't read any of the paper yet.
But I've never EVER had any say in any editorial that Allen and his crew write. People don't always believe this, but editorial and news are different departments with different bosses. An editorial writer might ask me to clarify a fact. But like everyone in the newsroom, I don't have input into the editorials (beyond my stories that appear in the paper).
So now I'm going to read the editorial!
Posted on February 14, 2008 12:53 PM
Margaret,
The best answer is the honest answer. Thank you.
And thanks for clarifying the process. It is helpful.
"Preacher Joel"...Hmmmm....:-)
Posted on February 14, 2008 1:56 PM