Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday came under fire when a Taipei city councilor raised tough questions about the Taipei City Government’s data transparency and standard operating procedures — two items at the core of Ko’s management style.
During a city council question-and-answer session, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Chin Huei-chu (秦慧珠) said the Taipei Secretariat denied her and her colleague, Tai Shi-chin (戴錫欽), a copy of Ko’s schedule when they requested it.
Chin said that Ko allegedly planned secret meetings and conducted inspections with legislative candidates in their constituencies.
Chin also alleged Ko had had “frequent contact” with a presidential candidate, who she did not name.
Ko has said that he has compiled a list of things he would avoid while attending campaign events in an attempt to remain neutral.
Chin first demanded that Ko provide her with a comprehensive schedule of his official activities, to which Ko replied: “No problem. I have nothing to hide.”
Chin also demanded access to all data in the secretariat’s computers regarding Ko’s schedule.
Taipei Chief Secretary-General Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊) expressed reservations regarding the data in the secretariat’s computers, but was told to comply by Taipei City Council Deputy Speaker, Chen Chin-hsiang (陳錦祥), a KMT member.
Chin went on to ask about a survey, of city government employees on how satisfied they are with their work and asked Ko why survey results have not been released as statistics had been compiled in late September.
Ko said that the statistics have yet to be analyzed and an internal review of the results by the city government is pending.
Chin also asked Ko why the survey’s results need to be discussed before they are publicly released.
Referring to an “exodus” from the city government, which has seen about 1,500 employees retire or transfer, Chin said that several heads of agencies have reportedly declined to sign employees’ resignations or requests to be transferred to other agencies.
Chin then asked for a show of hands from officials who had asked employees to stay on their positions.
Six of Ko’s top officials, including Department of Urban Development Commissioner Lin Jou-min (林洲民) and Department of Cultural Affairs Commissioner Ni Chung-hwa (倪重華), raised their hands.
Taipei Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Liou Ming-lone (劉銘龍) said if an employee is crucial to the agency, he would ask the employee to stay.
Chin asked Ko to promise not to tolerate officials forcing employees to remain in their positions.
Chin said that under Ko the city had an additional 343 standard operating procedures in place, making a total of 6,700.
The Taipei Police Department has the most procedures with 770. Chin said that no police officer could possibly remember that many procedures and it could lead to confusion when enforcing the law.
She also questioned why the Taipei Research, Development and Evaluation Commission, which is in charge of regulating and evaluating other agencies, has the least number of procedures, with 14.
Ko said he would simplify standard operating procedures and integrate redundant procedures.
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