A Bumpy Road to Power

Chapter 609 609:

On the 15th of every month, it's the mayor's reception day in Koryn City.

Most of the time, Mayor Douglas takes charge of this reception day.

Elliot Douglas went to Rexton City for study yesterday.

There's no choice, so Dirk Carter has to handle today's mayor's reception day.

The so-called mayor's reception day is when the mayor talks face-to-face with citizens who have issues to report.

The first floor of the Municipal Government Building.

There's a petition reception room.

This is Dirk Carter's first time in charge of the petition reception work, so he prepared thoroughly.

At nine-thirty in the morning.

He sat in the meeting room.

By around ten-thirty in the morning.

The petition reception work for five groups of citizens was completely finished.

Most of the issues reported were minor ones, and Dirk Carter recorded them all; solving them wasn't much trouble.

He stretched.

Dirk Carter took a sip of tea and said to Arlo Yarbrough, "Alright, call the next one."

Arlo Yarbrough looked towards the door and said, "No one else."

"No one else?"

Dirk Carter was taken aback.

Could it be that in this vast city of Koryn, citizens don't have a single issue?

He was a bit incredulous.

He stood up and walked to the door of the petition room to have a look. Indeed, the waiting area at the door had no one.

This was somewhat unreasonable.

Dirk Carter said to Arlo Yarbrough, "Go call Branson Chandler over."

Arlo Yarbrough nodded and ran off.

In no time at all, Branson Chandler hurried in.

This Branson Chandler, 42 years old this year, has a fat head and big ears, panting after a few steps, and by the time he reached Dirk Carter, he was drenched in sweat.

He wiped his sweat and asked Dirk Carter, "Executive Carter, did you call for me?"

"Branson Chandler, I want to ask you, how do citizens reporting issues at your petition office make appointments for the mayor's reception day?"

Branson Chandler said, "They're all phone appointments. Before each reception day, our petition office publishes a notice, and then appointments are registered via phone."

"Then for a whole month, are there only these five groups of citizens?"

Dirk Carter continued asking.

Branson Chandler chuckled and said, "Executive Carter, you may not know, there are indeed more than five groups of people reporting issues, but since Mayor Douglas took office, he ordered that only five groups are allowed entry for each petition reception day."

"Why?"

Dirk Carter asked.

Branson Chandler scratched his head and said, "Mayor Douglas must have his considerations. Who among us dares to speculate?"

These words were indeed well-articulated.

This shows that Branson Chandler is quite a sly fellow.

He wanted to tell Dirk Carter that the reason there are only five groups is due to Elliot Douglas's requirements.

"What about the issues reported? Did you conduct background checks beforehand?"

Dirk Carter continued asking.

Branson Chandler nodded and said, "Yes, we conduct audits beforehand, and only those who pass can come in on the mayor's reception day."

With a bang.

Dirk Carter slammed his palm on the table.

Furious, he said, "Nonsense! Isn't this nonsense? Limiting the number of people and issues reported—this is like burying your head in the sand! In this case, the mayor's reception day becomes mere formality. It might as well be canceled!"

Branson Chandler was also startled by Dirk Carter's anger.

Scratching his head, he said with a long face, "Executive Carter, it's beyond our control. Different leaders have different policies, what can we do?"

Dirk Carter knew it wasn't Branson Chandler's fault.

He was just following orders.

After a pause, he asked, "Since you have all the registrations, go get the registration book. I want to see what the most reported issue is."

"No need to get it; I know. The most reported issue is the difficulty of dealing with the Commerce Bureau. This problem has been reported 104 times in the past few months,"

Branson Chandler said without hesitation.

He even gave the exact number.

This shows that he takes his work seriously.

"Tell me, what makes it difficult?"

Dirk Carter asked.

Branson Chandler thought for a bit and said, "Most report that the Commerce Bureau's efficiency is too slow."

Dirk Carter nodded.

He said, "Go and compile the issues that citizens report most frequently and send them to my office. Arlo, prepare the car. We're going to the Commerce Bureau."

"Okay."

Arlo Yarbrough nodded and went out.

At around eleven-ten or so.

Dirk Carter and Arlo Yarbrough had already walked to the gate of the Commerce Bureau.

The reason for walking over is that Dirk Carter knows most unit guards are familiar with the government vehicles; just by looking at the license plate, they can tell which official is here.

At this moment.

The gate of the Commerce Bureau was tightly closed.

In the guard room, an old man was listening to the radio on a recliner, looking very relaxed.

Dirk Carter went over proactively.

He knocked on the window.

The old man frowned and stood up, opened the window, and asked with a poor tone, "What do you want?"

"Sir, I'm here to handle business at the Commerce Bureau, could you please open the door?"

Dirk Carter said politely.

The old man glared at him and said, "It's closed now, come back at three in the afternoon."

Seeing the old man about to close the window.

Dirk Carter swiftly reached out to hold it.

He asked, "Sir, it's just after eleven. Logically, shouldn't the break be at twelve?"

While speaking.

Dirk Carter had already taken out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and threw it in front of the old man.

Courtesy never harms.

The old man quickly took the cigarettes and his tone improved a bit, saying, "Young man, next time you come here for business, remember to come early. Here, we only open from nine to eleven in the morning and from three to five in the afternoon."

Dirk Carter frowned.

According to the Koryn City Government's summer working hours, it should be from nine in the morning to twelve noon, and three in the afternoon to six, totaling seven hours. How did it change to four hours at the Commerce Bureau?

Thinking of this.

He took out another pack of cigarettes.

Threw it to the old man.

He said, "Sir, I come from the countryside, it's quite far and it's not easy to make a trip to the city center. How about letting me in, I can wait in the hall, and this way I can take care of my business as soon as the afternoon shift starts, would that be okay?"

The old man pondered for a while.

He glanced at the pack of cigarettes again.

Said, "Alright young man, you seem like a decent guy, but after you get in, make sure to follow the rules, don't wander around, okay?"

"Got it, sir."

After Dirk Carter nodded.

The guard opened the side door for Dirk Carter.

He and Arlo Yarbrough were finally able to enter the Commerce Bureau's courtyard.

The Commerce Bureau is a large department.

The courtyard is not small.

The building in front is the office block.

The one at the back is the cafeteria and dormitory.

Dirk Carter walked into the office hall; indeed the entire hall was already empty.

Though there was no one left, the air conditioning was still running full blast, and all nine service windows had computers turned on.

This scene was enough to anger Dirk Carter.

Unexpectedly, what was even more infuriating was yet to come.