Anyang Mayor Choi Dae-ho said proactive administration "begins with the deliberation and action of public officials who seek better solutions beyond established practice." Choi is also mentioned as a potential Gyeonggi Province governor candidate and is regarded by far as the standout administrator among local government heads nationwide.
Anyang city announced Tuesday that it had selected its outstanding proactive civil servants and public institution employees for the second half of 2026, as part of efforts to build a public service culture that rewards initiative.
Following surveys of residents and staff and a preliminary review, 14 cases — nine from civil servants and five from public institution employees — advanced to the final round out of 30 total applications. The Proactive Administration Committee then conducted a final evaluation to determine award ratings.
The top prize in the individual civil servant category went to Park Jong-jin, an official in the water facilities division, for work on the Bisan-Poil integrated water purification plant modernization project. Park converted excavation byproducts not covered in the original design into sellable public assets and personally managed the entire process from disposal approval to contract, generating a total fiscal benefit of 537.79 million won ($396,000) through reduced processing costs and additional non-tax revenue.
Excellence awards in the same category went to Kim Tae-wan, a team leader in the sewage division, for proactively preventing a major accident through repairs to subsidence-affected aging housing, and to Lee Seong-uk, an official in the Manan-gu civil service division, for building a cadastral reference point management system called "JI:POINT" without a dedicated budget.
Encouragement awards went to Kim Yeong-pyo, an official in the audit division, for resolving a school commute safety hazard that had gone unaddressed for five years; to Shin Hui-won, an official in the AI strategy project division, for winning 64 billion won in competitive grants to advance the city's AI leadership; and to Jeong Ho-nam, a team leader in the public facilities division, for saving 1.85 billion won in supervision costs by switching to integrated management.
The top prize in the civil servant team category went to the housing and residential welfare team in the housing division. The team was recognized for working with private partners to help housing-vulnerable residents secure public rental housing despite difficulties in raising deposits, and for establishing a sustained support framework.
The excellence award in the team category went to the sports division's community sports team and sports facilities team for developing a community athletic facility through an agreement with Gyeongin National University of Education. The encouragement award went to the AI policy division's AI platform team for introducing a generative AI subscription service to modernize administrative operations.
The top prize in the individual public institution employee category went to Lee Hyo-seong, a manager at Anyang Urban Corporation, for demolishing a deteriorating management building more than 50 years old at a camping vehicle parking lot next to Anyang Agricultural and Marine Products Wholesale Market, expanding parking capacity, cutting maintenance costs by more than 100 million won and creating a foundation for generating 53.21 million won in annual revenue.
The excellence award went to Shin Yu-min, a staff member at the Anyang Human Resources Development Foundation, for building an Anyang-style career education ecosystem connecting schools, students and the local community. The encouragement award went to Kim Hye-ran, a manager at Anyang Urban Corporation, for introducing an online reservation system for the Saemul Park pitch-and-putt golf course.
In the public institution team category, the excellence award went to Anyang Urban Corporation's street security lighting team for improving the street light management system through AI-based fault pattern analysis and real-time wireless monitoring. The encouragement award went to Anyang Urban Corporation's volume-based waste fee team for upgrading a map service to provide up-to-date information on volume-based waste fee sales points.
Civil servants selected for the proactive administration awards will receive personnel bonus points, the highest rating for performance bonuses and prize money as incentives, while outstanding public institution employees will receive a citation from the Anyang mayor.
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