The Legally Required Minimum is Not Enough

Good customer service is something we’ve all come to expect. When we spend our hard-earned dollars, we prefer to be treated with respect and given the highest quality available for the money.

When we go out to eat, we want tasty food and friendly, courteous service. The same can be said when hiring someone for auto or home repairs. We expect them to deliver quality service at a reasonable price with as little hassle as possible, and if we don’t get those things, we will take our patronage elsewhere.

Why then, when it comes to our government, do we settle for the lowest amount of customer service required by law? Why don’t we demand the highest level of customer service for our tax dollars? Taxpayers are the customers of government, and the recipients of government services. Perhaps it’s because we can’t take our business elsewhere that we are often told, “We’re not legally required to provide that.” Or “that is publicly available” — but only if you wade through all these obscure bureaucratic hoops.

We would never accept the legally required minimum customer service from our barista, so why do we accept it from our government? Examples of this phenomenon can easily be found in our own local government. Whether it’s inadequate communication, failure to provide easily accessible current meeting information, or just having an apathetic attitude about public interest. If you had a choice, would you spend your hard-earned money with a business that provides that level of customer service?

The time has come to demand more than the legally required minimum from our local government agencies. There have been some great improvements recently, but there’s opportunity for more.

Speak up. Let them know the legally required minimum isn’t good enough.

By Danny Lundy | Libertarian Party of Morgan County | Published June 15th, 2018 in The Reporter-Times