Another round of public consultation is to take place before the SAGE Commission finalises its recommendations on improving Government efficiency.Commission chairman Brian Duperreault told The Royal Gazette that SAGE will be seeking feedback on possible actions Bermuda can take as a country to address critical fiscal issues such as the deficit and pensions.“We have a $300 million deficit, we keep borrowing to pay salaries so at some point something’s got to give so what could we do to alleviate that,” said Mr Duperreault.“We’ve got pension issues. We’ve got massive pension liabilities that are unfunded — billions of dollars, larger than our debt. So what can we do, what possible changes could we make to the pensions that could make them better funded and have a chance of continuing.”The meetings will take place in Somerset, St George’s and Hamilton on September 16, 17 and 19.The Commission is expected to complete its work in October and has already held a series of meetings with the public, a cross-section of organisations and senior civil servants.And it met with a sampling of rank and file members of the Civil Service last Thursday and plans another meeting within the next two weeks.About 60 members — representing all six unions — turned up for what turned out to be a “very positive” meeting, according to Mr Duperreault.“Like all the other feedback that we’ve received we will incorporate it to the extent we can and it fits with our final report,” he said.Mr Duperreault agreed that there was some anxiety among some civil servants about what the future holds.“Naturally there is, this is an uncertain time and we have a very difficult economy so people are having difficulty just getting through the day,” he said.“It’s natural for everyone to be anxious and concerned about what might come out of this — and it’s a fair reaction.”Mr Duperreault added: “We haven’t reached our conclusions yet so it’s hard to be reassuring about what we’re going to come up with because we don’t have those answers yet.“But I’ve said all along that we have to do this with our head and our heart because we have significant issues. Issues that will have to be addressed, sooner or later. We just can’t keep borrowing money. So some difficult decisions will have to be made. But we have to do them in a way that recognises the social consequences of the difficulties that we currently face. We can’t make the current situation worse.“So, we need some kind of a reasonable glide path. If you do too much too soon, you got a problem, if you do too little too late, you’ve got another problem. Its like landing that plane. You don’t want to land it to soon you’re in the water, you want to land it in Bermuda.”Mr Duperreault said that his Commission will be making suggestions about how to implement its recommendations.“Without a good implementation plan, maybe we shouldn’t even make a recommendation. If you don’t have a way to do it, then you’ve failed,” he said. “So one of the things we’re wrestling with is coming up with methodologies that would get this stuff done.”But he ruled out bringing in an outside task force to drive an implementation plan.“The ideal is to have it implemented by the government workers themselves.”Asked whether he thought heads should roll at the civil service, Mr Duperreault said the Commission had not yet come to that conclusion but “it is certainly one of the possibilities.”“I think we have to think that through because there are consequences to that. But I do think in general accountability is important. There is an important part of management around accountability.“And we as a country should demand that of the people who work for us. Government works for the people of Bermuda. We should insist on accountability and rewards for good service and all the things that go with it should be part of the fabric of the way the Government runs.”But he added that systematic problems could be at the root of poor performance of the Civil Service as a whole.“The system can be inefficient, the system can have real flaws in it, but the people in it are capable. And we’ve got to separate one from the other. I think you have to have a good faith and belief in the people.“I think the people in the Government are, generally speaking, terrific. And if you ask them I think they would say that things need to be changed. And we need to find ways to encourage them to make the changes that they know need to be made.”He added: “And we’ve got to fix systematic problems where people are given the jobs they can’t handle.”