City Hall picks up on phone problems

Non-emergency '311' to give speedy answers

Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News

Published January 10, 2006 at midnight

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When residents call Denver City Hall this summer with a garbage pickup gripe or building permit question, officials vow they won't get bounced around the bureaucracy or fall through the cracks.

The new mantra is "friendly, effective customer service."

In July, Denver will introduce a $3.3 million "311" call center. It will allow people to call that number with all non-emergency questions or complaints about city government: reports about stray dogs or clogged sewer mains, questions about snow removal, library hours or building permits.

Callers will have a case tracking number - similar to those used to follow Federal Express shipments - and be able to check the status of their request with a 311 operator or on the city's Web site.

As for the operator, he or she will be "someone who is motivated, energetic, very flexible and personable, yet professional," said Steve Stroud, the 311 program manager.

The project is spurred by Mayor John Hickenlooper's mandate to use technology and common sense to make City Hall more efficient and responsive to residents.

The new system's immediate goal is to increase government access - and not just for residents. City workers and City Council members will rely on the system, too.

No longer will you have to wade through the 1,200 numbers in the phone book for Denver services and then navigate a maze of officials and agencies to get action.

"You almost need like a treasure map and an Indiana Jones decoder ring to figure out how to find your way through government typically," said Michael Locatis, the chief information officer Hickenlooper hired away from Time Warner Entertainment in 2004 to sharpen the city's technological prowess.

"We want to simplify that to one point of contact."

"Imagine the first 10 minutes of every call wouldn't be spent apologizing for the fact you've been transferred 12 times," said Kelly Jean Brough, the mayor's deputy chief of staff for government accountability and reform.

"Now you'll call one number and we'll figure out how to get that call where it needs to go, who needs to follow up on it and how to solve the issue you've called about."

The analytical power of the computerized system, the mayor said, will revolutionize how the city works.

"The process of creating the 311 system becomes the catalyst that allows us to change the way the entire bureaucracy functions," Hickenlooper said.

The system will build a database that tracks service delivery. This will allow 311 operators to give callers reliable estimates on how long it will take to fix a broken water main or clean up graffiti.

Denver managers will be able to mine the database to spot service problem trends and measure how fast and effectively city workers are finding solutions and making repairs.

They'll not only be able to compare how swiftly street maintenance crews are filling potholes but see if the patching material sold by a vender is long-lasting - or quickly crumbling.

"That's a unique opportunity to look at how we fill potholes and say: 'Is this the best way? Can we cut that time?' " the mayor said.

The system dovetails with the mayor's program for rewarding workers for performance. It will provide hard numbers to gauge which employees and agencies are nailing goals.

Brough said many employees have embraced the system's design phase, which involved a wholesale review of how each agency operates. It allowed some staffers to get their first big picture view of how their agency works - or doesn't.

"Employees get to raise questions like, 'Why don't we skip that one step and send it right to me. I think that would be a lot faster,' " Brough said.

The phone won't be the only way to get service.

People will be able to e-mail or fax the customer-service center or go to the city's Web site to file complaints about a pothole or burned-out street light, for example. They can search online for information ranging from the required steps to start a business to how to obtain a city "enterprise zone" tax credit.

Eventually, people will be able to make online city purchases, from concert tickets at Red Rocks to business licenses.

People can choose to remain anonymous and just identify their case with the tracking number or provide their name, address and other information.

Either way, 311 operators will be able to call up someone's case history from various agencies so neither the operator nor the caller has to "reinvent the wheel," Brough said.

To work out any bugs in the system, the city will start in early July by routing calls made to traditional 10-digit agency main numbers to the new call center. The one-stop 311 number will be introduced weeks later, after a public marketing blitz.

"People will immediately see a difference in service, even though they're calling their old favorite number for parks and rec that's taped to the refrigerator or in their speed dial," Locatis said.

The center will initially be staffed with eight operators 12 hours a day, Monday through Friday, said Stroud, the 311 program manager. It will expand to 30 agents by year's end.

For after-hours emergencies, there will be late-night hotlines for people to contact public works and other critical agencies.

Just as importantly, the 311 system is expected to ease the burden on Denver's 911 dispatch center, which averages a crushing load of 4,500 calls in a 24-hour period, said Rika Mead, a manager helping roll out the new system. Nearly one in five calls to 911 are non-emergencies.

What's the 311?

Denver's 311 customer service center opens for business in July, taking all non-emergency calls, such as:

• Building permit questions

• Broken water main reports

• Broken street light reports

• Tax questions

1 in 5 911 calls are non-emergencies.

• The most frequently asked non-emergency questions to 911 dispatchers:

How long do I cook my turkey?

When are you open?

Is my dog/cat lost?Source: City Of Denver

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