Ting says complaints that were still being received were regarding parking compounds, particularly cases where motorists with seasonal parking passes were still compounded.
SIBU (Oct 1): The number of public complaints received through the Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) Cares app has declined significantly, said its chairman Clarence Ting.
However, he said complaints that were still being received were regarding parking compounds, particularly cases where motorists with seasonal parking passes were still compounded.
“This could happen when enforcement personnel are unaware that the vehicles have valid seasonal passes. The matter needs to be addressed to prevent such errors from recurring,” he said during a full council meeting here yesterday.
On the Smart Parking system, Ting said the number of users had reached about 111,000 and was expected to continue increasing.
“We may reach 150,000 users soon,” he said.
Meanwhile, he said he has instructed enforcement against abandoned vehicles to continue actively throughout the council’s administrative area.
“If councillors see an abandoned vehicle, take a picture, record its location, and then ask the enforcement team to take action. Do not wait for public complaints,” he said.
Ting also directed councillors that efforts to address stray dogs in SMC jurisdiction be continued consistently, as the issue had also led to disputes between neighbours, particularly when some residents kept dogs while others were disturbed by their presence.
He said 110 stray dogs were caught in August while another four were caught at Stadium Tun Zaidi recently.
However, he cautioned enforcement personnel not to catch dogs inside privately fenced premises, as the local authority had no power to enter private property without permission.
He said SMC would continue investigations and enforcement action based on complaints received, and reminded enforcement personnel and councillors to be more proactive in addressing issues.
On another matter, Ting said SMC will review its performance following its success in securing a five-star rating from the Ministry of Housing and Local Government (KPKT).
He said the council will hold a post-mortem meeting and plan benchmarking visits to several local authorities in Peninsular Malaysia to identify areas for further improvement.
“The meeting would involve all parties involved in the assessment to review aspects that had been carried out well and identify areas for further improvement.
“We need to look at what we have done well and identify aspects that can still be improved. Although we have achieved five stars, we cannot be complacent with our existing achievement.
“Instead, we should see it as an opportunity to continue improving the quality of services and SMC’s performance,” he said.
Ting said the achievement should not be viewed as an end point but as an opportunity for SMC to reassess its approach and identify measures to further improve services to the community.
He said benchmarking visits would allow SMC to observe firsthand the work systems and best practices adopted by local councils that recorded higher scores in the national assessment.
“We want to see for ourselves how PBTs (local authorities) that ranked higher carry out their duties and what we can learn from them to further improve SMC’s performance,” he said.
Ting said the KPKT Five-Star Rating assessment was conducted once every two years, with the next assessment scheduled for 2028.
He said the intervening period would be used for early preparations, including strengthening management, operations and service delivery.
In the latest assessment, SMC ranked sixth nationally, a significant improvement from 32nd in the previous assessment.
Ting said the achievement demonstrated that SMC staff’s efforts and commitment to improving the organisation’s performance had yielded results.
