August 5, 2003

Using technology and innovation to improve customer service was on Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land's agenda today as she visited with employees and the public at the Port Huron and Marine City branch offices.

She offered her own ideas - and listened to those of others - regarding ways in which the Department of State can enhance service to Michigan residents. Beefing up the department’s menu of online services to enhance customer convenience is one of Land’s priorities.

"We must continue to look for ways to provide better service," Land said. "While shrinking state revenue can make that difficult, I believe that we can meet these challenges by being creative and using technology. Personally engaging with employees and the public lets great ideas rise to the top. We’ll be a smarter, faster and more innovative Department of State because of it."

Land has committed to visit all 173 Secretary of State branch offices this year. She already has been to more than 150 branches since taking office in January.

Land is a strong advocate of using Internet technology to improve customer convenience and staff efficiency. Her new campaign "Skip the Trip! Save Time, Renew Online!" creates awareness of services available via the Internet. As part of that effort, Land recently asked that outdated branch office signs still bearing her predecessor’s name be modified to incorporate the department Web site, www.Michigan.gov/sos. Only signs in disrepair will be replaced entirely.

She also is exploring ways to improve service for those visiting branch offices. Possibilities include extending office hours and offering Saturday morning hours in select locations; expanding the use of credit-card transactions to include branch office services; overcoming language barriers by posting multilingual signs in offices that help people understand what information they must bring to conduct business; and improving office accessibility by working to repair pavement in parking lots, improve lighting, and providing timely snow removal.

The Secretary commended area employees for their performance and pointed out the tremendous volume of work handled in each branch office.

Last year, the Port Huron office processed nearly 150,000 transactions, and the Marine City office processed more than

82,000 transactions.

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