A New Location with a Familiar Face
In addition to going to Harrisburg and dealing with constituent issues back home, I am also in charge of staffing and running my district offices in Cecil, Washington and Burgettstown. For most people, the first and sometimes only impression they get about me is their experience with constituent services, so it’s important that I have a staff that will put their best face forward and show an essential willingness to get to the bottom of an issue.
Since I took office in 2007, my Burgettstown district office has been located at 1541 Main Street, across the street from the Post Office. Although the office has served us well, we have decided to move to a newer office, located at 1425 Burgettstown Plaza, right next to FamCare. It will be pretty hard to miss the big yellow sign when you come into Burgettstown. We will be hosting a formal Open House event soon, but please take a second to stop in and say hello.
The change in office locations also coincides with another major change. Patty Neil, who managed the Burgettstown office for the past year, has taken an opportunity with the Washington County Redevelopment Authority and will be leaving very soon. Patty is a warm, wonderful woman and I wish her nothing but the best in her new job. She will be missed.
When you do stop in, don’t be surprised if you see a familiar face smiling back at you. Patty’s departure created perhaps the easiest staffing problem I’ve ever been confronted with. I immediately called Jeanne Vega, who managed the Burgettstown office for the first two years. Jeanne gladly agreed to come back, and she should be formally on board within a matter of days.
You may be wondering why anyone should care about who is answering the phone in my office, but it is truly a vitally important part of what I do. I don’t have many rules for my staff; I believe in giving them broad instructions and letting them do their jobs their own way. But the one guiding principle I expect from everyone working for me is to have right kind of mindset in dealing with constituent problems.
Too often, people call some government office or another with a problem, and the person on the other end of the phone does everything in their power to push them off on someone else. When confronted with a challenge, I want my people to find a way to say “yes” instead of saying “no”. Even if it’s a problem we cannot directly deal with, I want to follow up to make sure whoever we refer you to take care of the issue.
It’s not always as easy as it sounds. Many constituents have problems that simply cannot be solved, or may require extensive legal action on their part. Others are unwilling to believe what we tell them, and decide to call back every few days in the odd belief that our answer will miraculously change. At the end of the day, all we can do is our best, which I think is all you can ask of anyone.
