THE Administrator General’s Department was Thursday named as the island’s ‘Best Executive Agency’, and also took the prize for best ‘Customer Service Agency’ at the Public Sector Customer Service Competition awards ceremony, held at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston.

In addition, the Administator General’s Department, which won from a field of 33 public sector agencies across the island, was named the ‘Most Creative Agency’ in the area of customer service for 2003.

At the same time, Raoul Williams, a motor vehicle inspector at the Swallowfield Examination Depot of the Island Traffic Authority, was named the 2003 public sector customer service officer, while his agency copped the top prize for being the year’s “Most Improved Customer Service Agency”.

Williams won from a field of 135 nominees — earning himself a cash prize and a weekend for two at a Sandals hotel.

“I am proud to be a winner of this award,” he told the Observer. “I am also proud to be associated with the objectives of the Cabinet to make a change for the better as far as the quality of service is concerned.”

Quality service, according to Williams, has long been a part of the examination depot’s goals. He has been working with the depot since 1980.

“We were delivering quality service long before the competition started so it was not difficult for us to enter and win,” he noted.

Meanwhile, head of the depot, John Bardowell, described the award as an “inspiration”, and assured that his depot will continue to provide quality customer service.

“It’s a symbol of achievement, that we are the beacon of our organisation but I am just hoping that it spreads to all our locations,” he told the Observer.

This is the second time the depot has been named the most improved agency and Bardowell hopes to take the competition’s highest award in 2005.

“We cannot go further than this award because we haven’t yet signed up with the citizen’s charter,” he said. “But we hope to go through the documentation next year and we are confident of copping the highest award in the next competition in 2005.”

The Public Service Customer Service Competition was implemented by the government’s Standards and Monitoring Unit in the Cabinet Office.

The first of the biennial competition was held in 2001. It recognises achievers in three main categories — the ‘Best Customer Service Agency’, the ‘Most Improved Customer Service Agency’ and the ‘Most Creative/Innovative Agency’

In addition, the best police station, hospital, tax office, National Insurance Scheme (NIS) office and post office are also recognised.

The Mandeville NIS office was named the best social security office, while the Spanish Town Revenue Service Centre copped the Port Authority award for best tax office. The St Ann’s Bay Police Station received the Digicel award for being the year’s best police station,and the Windalco award for best hospital went to the Bustamante Children’s Hospital. The Port Maria Post Office received the Jamalco award for topping its category.

Certificates for improved service were awarded to the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management and the Percy Junior hospital. Similar certificates were also awarded to several individuals of various agencies with more than 10 staff members at the Administrator General’s Department receiving certificates.

Staff from the Swallowfield Examination Depot King Street, Spanish Town, Old Harbour and May Pen branches of the Inland Revenue Department also received certificates. So too were individuals at the NIS Ripon Road and Mandeville branches, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the St Thomas Parish Library.

The panel of judges for this year’s competition was headed by public defender and chief judge, Howard Hamilton, who encouraged the various recipients to “not only maintain the standards” that they have attained, but to continue their efforts at improving their services even in the absence of the competition.

“We are well past the time of the faceless, nameless civil servant,” he said. “We are more accountable, recognisable and whether we realise it or not we are being noticed in all that we do.”

He added: “Let us all remember that we exist solely to serve the public. In a very real way, every member of the public that enters our offices is our chief executive officer.”