GREAT BAY--๐๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฐ๐บ๐ฆ๐ฆ (๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ) ๐ด๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐บ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ง๐ง ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ช๐ค๐ฌ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐บ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ข ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ด ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ง๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ฎ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ด๐ข๐บ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฏ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐๐๐๐๐โ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐๐โ๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ง๐ง ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ช๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ง๐ง ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ด, ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐บ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ, ๐ด๐ฆ๐ต ๐ค๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ง๐บ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐๐๐๐.
๐๐ง ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฌ๐๐๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ฌ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐ฌโ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ฎ๐ง๐. ๐๐ง ๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ฌ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐จ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฆ๐๐ฌ, ๐ข๐ง ๐๐ง ๐ข๐ง๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ฎ๐ง๐, ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฉ๐จ๐ง๐๐๐. ๐๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฉ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ.
"Thank you for the offer to respond to the letter received by the anonymous VROMI Worker. While I acknowledge the longstanding capacity challenges within the Ministry, I cannot find myself in the suggestions made regarding micromanagement or creating an environment of fear or potential backlash. On the contrary, my management style has been one that supports open communication and co-ownership of work. Earlier in the year, I implemented the practice of drafting memos throughout the permit approval process to foster transparency in decision-making.
This has proven to be one of the Ministry's weaknesses in defending specific permits that have found themselves in court. It also allows persons to document any concerns for consideration in the decision-making process. No request is treated as a scam, but a thorough review of requests is necessary to ensure that what is permitted not only aligns with existing laws and policies but also won't financially burden the country in the future, should the related permit lead to litigation, infrastructural, or environmental challenges.
In addition, there are regular meetings with department heads, individually and as a team, to enhance internal communication and efficiency. One of the challenges is the legal interpretation of the draft zoning law and its application in the permit process. In a recent court verdict, it was determined that, despite zoning not being legally formalized, its application over the past 11 years provides a basis for its use, in conjunction with other ordinances and policies.
This means that several requests made cannot, in fact, be processed as they were in the past. This means that allowing buildings that exceed zoned heights, or garages or incinerators in neighborhoods, cannot be permitted unless well substantiated. Here, we see the value of introducing the memo system and enhancing internal dialogue. This need to provide more information by the staff as to why they advise in a particular way, may differ from what many are used to, and means more effort, but it promotes stronger internal collaboration in VROMI and, more importantly, transparent, sound, and fair decision-making.
In terms of output, quotas were recently put in place, supported with running update sheets, with the expressed explanation that these are goals, that if missed are ok, but must be substantiated. The cabinet has requested all departments to indicate where support may be needed, that could be covered on a short-term basis, given the limitations of the Government's function book and the budget. To date, three of the seven departments have made use of this offer.
While working to enhance productivity to better serve the population, I've also requested the departments also address communication challenges expressed to me by the community, and to provide a monthly update to clients, especially in the area of permits and domain (long lease) matters. This not only helps with task management but also mitigates feelings of frustration that anyone would have with long processes.
I maintain an open door with my Ministry, hence the continuous efforts to address some of the challenges faced concerning capacity and motivation. I always welcome advice on the areas to improve the Ministry, its processes, and the general well-being of the VROMI family. This door remains open, and I encourage all employees, like many before them have done, to reach out. Bringing about positive change comes from open and balanced communication. While I recognize a historical fear of backlash in Government, especially in VROMI, this has never been me or my management style. The door is there, come off the ledge, come in, and let's talk."
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https://tribune-site.webflow.io//articles/minister-gumbs-responds-to-published-complaint-letter-to-the-editor-on-vromi
