Almost 10 months after he won the elections, Mayor Nir Barkat has fulfilled at least one major promise: Kikar Safra under his mayorship has undergone a dramatic change and has been transformed from a shtetl-like institution into an efficient, no-nonsense, hi-tech style administration.

Out are the cookies and soft drinks. In keeping with Barkat's health-conscious attitude, the counters in his large, renovated chambers sport a dish of freshly cut carrots, cucumbers and kohlrabi. On festive occasions, you might find some cherry tomatoes. There is no walking around, no small talk with the political echelon - wasting time is not held in high regard here. Meetings take place according to a strict schedule. In fact, this journalist was even politely informed that the scheduled meeting would be delayed by 15 minutes - a warning no one at Kikar Safra would have dreamed of issuing once upon a time, not even when the delay reached almost an hour.

Barkat is a management freak. Besides a certain amount of disdain for political game-playing, he believes in order, accountability, results and facts on the ground. Show him surveys, planning, programs and graphs, and you make his day. His own world is based and designed on hi-tech models, and he is unbelievably serious and dedicated. Since he has become mayor, his daily working hours have extended up to 18 and sometimes more.

Functionality, efficiency, maximization of the means at his disposal are key words, and all the staff members surrounding him fit into this model: young, modern, serious, focused. None of them belongs to the different political camps. In the new, large but so efficiently displayed chambers, there is no doubt that all the staff's primary loyalty is to Barkat.

You have been in the job for less than 10 months, but due to the changes you have introduced here, both on the physical and the content levels, this is a totally different municipality from the one you inherited.

You're right, it's not only a change in the way things look or sound, it is first and foremost a totally different way of working. We deal with economic development, upgrading the education system and a lot of additional issues, but using a totally different approach, whether it is the transportation network, the cleaning, etc.[...] We prepare our plans for the coming year based on realistic goals. The local budget, the special development budget, the funding - everything is taken into consideration together at the beginning of the year.

There will no longer be situations in which the budgets for projects are only disclosed at the end of the year. Everyone will know right from the beginning of the year what he has or hasn't been allocated and work accordingly. We are completely changing the whole organization. The work will be done in total synchronization with all the parameters and the changing factors: budgets, plans, programming.

This is indeed very impressive. But is it really a different municipality?

Yes, absolutely. No more business under the table, no more opacity - transparency for me is not just a word. Look at what is happening among the city committees: their debates are open to the public, they work, they meet regularly, they reach conclusions, decisions, there is a professional follow-up - it's working. Take for example the city's board. In the past, this very important committee used to meet barely twice a year. Now we meet twice a month. We decide on an agenda for the next city council. Issues that are important to board members are always brought up at city council meetings. I'll give you more: Since I am in charge, even members of the coalition can submit a motion. Once this was only for the opposition benches, with almost no effect. This is not just a cosmetic change, I would call it a dramatic change.

Okay, so you've changed the rules of the game; people work seriously and the 'Persian bazaar' atmosphere we saw in the past is gone. But beyond that, what does that change bring in?

It makes a lot of difference. The whole system - all the municipality employees and the directors - react positively and move forward. They accept and agree with all the changes and reforms we have brought in. I feel very satisfied, very encouraged to see that we are reaching the real things. It's tachles [the bottom line] now - no more talking.

Please give me an example.

This administration now deals with promoting projects and plans rather than political intrigues as occurred in the past.

But isn't some political drama the soul of a city council?

Here and there, yes, we can still see some examples. But most of the time, I and the members of the city council are very busy promoting this city and its residents' interests and not wasting our time on political intrigues. And in my eyes, that is a blessing.

This is a very hi-tech-based model, very matter of fact, very focused. By doing so, have you perhaps convinced your coalition members to walk in your footsteps for the benefit of the city as you conceive it? But what happens to the large administration you have here? Could it be that soon, perhaps even now, a part of this professional apparatus will become superfluous?

No, I don't think so. What we are doing now is contracting the municipality system from 35 different departments into seven administrations, to work more in focus. Take the new plan of partitioning the different neighborhoods [announced last week]. It is connected only to the physical aspects of the city and has one major aim: to bring some accountability into the system. Once this new apparatus is in place, there will be officer in charge of the quarter. It's built on a command structure.

So whatever goes wrong in a certain neighborhood, from now on the residents will have one person to whom to present their grievances? One officer in charge who will be accountable for the failures and the results?

Absolutely. This commander in charge of the quarter will work with the municipal employees, based on the nature of the issue raised. I'm talking about the physical branches, all those who until now worked only under their own bosses. From now on, they will have to answer to the person in charge of the neighborhood, who himself is responsible to the residents. This person will receive daily all the complaints presented to the 106 station for this specific neighborhood, and he will be responsible to find answers and solutions to the issues presented by the residents. This includes the self-administered neighborhood directors as well. The bottom line is that from now on, residents will have an address for all their complaints.