Starting with Empathy and leading to Trust is what Mayor Lee Hyeon-jae wants for his staff when the city of Hanam created the civil complaints administration.
“ A single word or a look from a public official can be a deep comfort to citizens .”
Mayor Lee Hyeon-jae of Hanam City had a different perspective on administration. He accepted civil complaints not as simple requests, but as ‘ signals of empathy ‘ that should first approach the lives of citizens. Therefore, he considered the ‘ attitude ‘ of how to respond as important as the speed of administration.
Hanam City has completely transformed the concept of civil affairs administration. It is changing the system from simply processing civil affairs to explaining them in the language of citizens, considering their inconveniences, and finding answers on the spot.
An administration that empathizes with every word of speech and every word of explanation, and that uses the ‘ field ‘ as the starting point of administration for citizens with limited mobility.
A structure that allows citizens to listen to their complaints anytime, anywhere, without having to go to city hall or go from department to department. In this way, Hanam City has shifted the center of its administration to the people. ‘
A responsible administration that does not avoid problems, one that puts people at the center of all processes, and one that explains its actions in the language of citizens. The civil affairs administration that Hanam City is implementing is not a system, but rather a practice of a philosophy.
Complaints are a form of communication and Learning That Involves explanatory skills through kindness and performance.
A single word of explanation can be a comfort to some and a wall to others. To reduce the distance created by this ‘ language difference ‘, Hanam City has prepared an education program that goes back to the essence of responding to civil complaints. The ‘ Seeing with the Heart of the Civil Complainant !’ education program, held in the City Hall auditorium in April, was conducted in the form of a drama concert that combined performances and lectures.
This training was designed to enable public officials to become emotionally immersed by vividly recreating actual civil complaint situations through plays, rather than simply delivering instructions.
Five episodes, including a citizen protesting parking enforcement, an elderly person making repeated phone calls, and a citizen who is confused because they do not understand documents, made us realize that responding to civil complaints in the field is not a simple skill, but an area that requires empathy.
In particular, in the episode ‘Grandpa and the Call Center,’ a conversation between an elderly person who does not understand repeated explanations and a call center employee was introduced, delivering the message that ‘the ability to explain is also a capacity for kindness.’ ” Although it was a short drama, it was an opportunity for public officials to once again reflect on ‘ how to speak from the perspective of citizens. ‘
Complex civil complaints in one place
The phrase, “This is not our department’s job,” often frustrates citizens. To prevent this kind of “ping-pong administration, ” Hanam City has established a system where citizens can receive all their consultations in one place.
A noteworthy system is the ‘ Civil Complaint Coordinator.’ A career civil servant is permanently stationed in the civil complaint office to initially understand the content of the complaint and help coordinate it more efficiently. The complainant can receive guidance on the consultation flow that suits their complaint without having to go back and forth between departments.
For complex or coordination-requiring civil complaints, a professional counselor who is a retired civil servant is available for connection. Suppose the problem is still too complex to resolve. In that case, the head of the department in question will come down to the civil complaint office in person to provide consultation under the ‘ Civil Complaint Handling Team Leader Responsible Consultation System. ‘
As of now, 26 cases have been handled, proving that it is a practical on-site response system.
It doesn’t end there.
Civil complaints where the responsible department is unclear or requires consultation between departments are mediated by the ‘ Civil Complaint Processing Promotion Team ‘. The ‘ Civil Complaint Processing Promotion Team ‘ is a consultative body comprised of 26 working-level team leaders, including the Integrity Investigation Team Leader and the Autonomous Administration Team Leader. Team leaders from related fields participate in each case to coordinate with the responsible department and confirm the final responsible department. It is a system designed to prevent civil complaints from being transferred between departments. To date, 19 civil complaints have been mediated by this promotion team so far.
With these system improvements, Hanam City is increasing its ability to respond to complex civil complaints and its reliability. It is continuously strengthening field-centered administration to reduce ‘ ping-pong civil complaints. ‘
No need to come to City Hall
Distance and time can sometimes be the most significant barriers to filing civil complaints. Especially for the elderly or citizens with limited mobility, visiting the civil complaint office itself can be a considerable burden. To solve this problem, Hanam City has introduced a ‘ video civil complaint consultation system ’ to all 14 administrative welfare centers in the district.
Now, citizens can receive real-time video consultations with city hall staff by simply visiting their local administrative welfare center. The city is applying this system to various situations, including a one-stop civil complaint center, consultations with related organizations, and meetings with retired civil servants.
Video-based civil complaints are not limited to simply “ reducing visits. ” Their most significant strength is that multiple departments can connect at the same time to listen to and discuss civil complaints.
Last July, at the Wiryedong Administrative Welfare Center, a citizen filed five civil complaints, and four teams, including the Parks and Greenery Division and the Transportation Policy Division, responded simultaneously in real time.
The citizen was able to receive comprehensive guidance on solutions with just one explanation. Starting in the second half of the year, Hanam City plans to further enhance the accessibility and user experience of the system by introducing a reservation system, reducing consultation waiting times, and strengthening guidance within the center.
Civil complaints are a philosophy, not a system.
In March of this year, Hanam City signed an agreement with relevant organizations such as Hanam Police Station, Hanam Fire Station , and Gwangju Hanam Office of Education, and established a dedicated hotline and joint response system.
Through this, a foundation was established to respond more quickly and organically to complex civil complaints that require cooperation between organizations, and comprehensive solutions can be provided to citizens.
In particular, this collaborative foundation, combined with the video-based civil complaint consultation system, yielded results. On the 15th of this month, when a complex civil complaint regarding drunken people, juvenile delinquency, and nighttime noise was received in Deokpung 3-dong, the Deokpung District Office of Hanam Police Station, Crime Prevention Division, City Hall Information and Communication Division, and Autonomous Administration Division held a video conference to discuss response measures.
The police decided to strengthen patrols and crackdowns in the area, and the Autonomous Administrative Division requested that the 3rd District of the Autonomous Crime Prevention Corps also strengthen patrols in the area. The Information and Communication Division suggested a preventive measure by considering the installation of additional CCTVs. The roles and response directions of each agency were immediately communicated to the complainant, and citizen satisfaction was also high because they could receive quick explanations and measures without having to visit the site.
This case, in which related organizations were connected in real time to listen to complaints together and derive response directions on the spot, shows that ‘ responsive administration ‘ is not just a slogan but is being implemented in reality.
The administrative philosophy of ‘ The answer to our problem lies in the field ‘ has now become the root of Hanam City’s civil affairs administration. Under the belief that administration should begin not at a desk but at the site where citizens are experiencing inconveniences, Hanam City is strengthening its civil affairs administration as the central axis of its administrative operations.
These efforts have led to results. Last December, Hanam City was selected as a ‘ National Happiness Civil Service Office Certification Agency ’ by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety in recognition of its improvement of the civil service office environment and expansion of digital civil service convenience. The rearrangement of movement routes, operation of a window dedicated to the vulnerable, tablet civil service manual, and installation of a small library was well-received as ‘ civil service offices where people want to stay. ’
The only city in the country to receive the Presidential Citation for two consecutive years
Citizen-centered civil affairs administration is also demonstrated through external achievements. Hanam City ranked first among 226 basic local governments nationwide in the ‘2024 Comprehensive Civil Affairs Service Evaluation’ jointly hosted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the National Human Rights Commission, and received a presidential award. This is the first time in the country that it has won the award for two consecutive years, following its win last year.
This evaluation was conducted on five items: civil complaint administration foundation, civil complaint processing performance, and civil complaint satisfaction. Hanam City notably rose 9.91 points in the ‘ Citizen Perception ’ index, recording a score 8.21 points higher than the average of the evaluation group.
This is the result of a multi-layered system, such as the coordinator system and team leader responsible consultation system operating as a ‘ structure to reduce problems from the citizen’s perspective ’, and is a symbolic achievement in which Hanam City has elevated civil complaint administration from mere office work to the essence of policy.
An Administration that gives everyone peace of mind, created by Hanam
Hanam City’s civil affairs administration is no longer limited to ‘ document processing ’ . It is gradually expanding into a relationship-centered administration that puts sincerity into every word, adds empathy to every explanation, and considers citizens’ feelings. From a system that can respond immediately on-site, a structure that connects multiple departments, to a meticulous design that can resolve civil affairs without repeated explanations. Hanam City is creating an administration that responds to citizens at the closest place and the moment they need it most.
Mayor Lee Hyeon-jae of Hanam City said, “ Civil complaints are the starting point of administration and the first step toward building trust with citizens, ” and added, “ Hanam City will continue to create such an administration together with its citizens, a city where a single word from a public official provides comfort and where their attitude in response builds trust. ”
