The Blog

Jay Manning, Director of Ecology

10/08/08

Economic vitality and environmental protection: Some people may not see a connection. But the truth is they’re two halves of the same picture. At the Department of Ecology, we’re keenly aware that our work helps sustain healthy families, communities, farms and businesses. We know we’re here to serve people, and we’re proud to do so.

This service ethic comes through loud and clear in our recent customer service survey. Every two years since 2002, we’ve commissioned the U.S. Department of Agriculture to conduct the rigorous survey of people and businesses that applied for environmental permits from the agency. Once again, our customers told us Ecology’s employees are highly responsive, helpful and professional, and good listeners. In fact, more than 90 percent said so.

Even in areas where numbers reflect lower satisfaction, more than three-fourths of customers were “satisfied” with our service. Especially for a regulatory agency, our scores are very good, but we will keep working to do better for our customers.

When USDA conducts this survey, we get a detailed report from the people who made the phone calls. They show us the numbers and tell us what they heard from our customers. We review the results with our managers across the agency. And we review the results with a statewide group of regulatory performance advisers, representing a range of business, agricultural, tribal, environmental and governmental organizations. And then we set our sights on how we can improve.

We do this because we care about Washington’s families, communities, farms and businesses — the true owners of our state’s unsurpassed natural environment.

For more information on the survey results, visit: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/news/2008news/2008-277.html.