Press Releases: 02/28/08 Mills announces Additional Springville HEAP Outreach 02/28/08 Mills Announces Orchard Park HEAP Outreach 02/15/08 Mills Announces Springville HEAP Outreach 02/05/08 Bee Column 02/08 01/04/08 Mills announces HEAP outreach efforts

John J. Mills - District 13 January, 2008 Over the past couple of months, I have had the pleasure of speaking to Chris Collins, our new County Executive, on several occasions. Mr. Collins is a successful businessman and is new to the political arena. During our meetings, Mr. Collins pledged to operate Erie County more like an efficient business and less like a political machine. As a successful businessman myself, I am excited about the opportunities that lie ahead for Erie County. This past Sunday, I attended the inauguration of Mr. Collins. He pledged to work with both sides of the aisle to arrive at bipartisan solutions to Erie County's problems. I look forward to working with Mr. Collins on this endeavor. There are many principles of a successful business that would improve county government. A successful business is efficient. Erie County can be more efficient by eliminating vacant jobs. There exist many jobs in county government whose sole purpose is to provide hidden money in the budget to be used for purposes other than hiring an employee. Rather than imbedding phantom jobs in the budget, the county should more aggressively implement performance based budgeting, as called for in the charter revisions passed by the voters in 2006. Hopefully, County Executive Collins' implementation of Six Sigma management principles will assist in this process. A successful business is responsive to its customers. Erie County's customers are its residents. When a resident contacts a county department, he or she should expect to be responded to in a prompt and courteous manner. Every effort should be made to assist the resident to a favorable outcome. If a favorable outcome cannot be reached, an explanation for denial should be offered. While the vast majority county employees are hard working and very responsive to the needs of county residents, some are not. I am confident that County Executive Collins will work with departments to ensure that all county employees are responsive to the needs of Erie County residents. A successful business is competitive. In order to thrive, a business must offer a product to its customers that is better than it competitors' product. In this regard Erie County needs to be able to attract jobs and people to the area. In order to do this, Erie County government must be more user friendly. Residents and businesses should view Erie County government as a partner, not an adversary. This does not mean that government should make exceptions to help businesses get a leg up. However, it does mean that county government should not impose undo hardships on businesses seeking to thrive. We must find ways to keep jobs here, rather than moving across the country and across the world. I pledge to work with County Executive Collins to find ways to make county government more user friendly and more competitive. This is an exciting time for Erie County, a time of opportunity and potential. There are many challenges that the county needs to address. I look forward to working with County Executive Collins to seize this opportunity and harness all of the potential that our region has to offer. I would like to hear your thoughts about how Erie County can be run more like a business. Please contact me at my District Office, located at 431 Main Street in East Aurora. My telephone number is 655-5650. You can also reach me by email at jmills13@erie.gov. To read about some of the issues that I have been addressing at the legislature, please visit my website online at www.erie.gov/legislature/district13. Back to District 13 Homepage