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Monday, November 2, 2009

Managing Director Camille Barnett: 3-1-1 isn't meant to usurp Council

Editor's Note: Last week, we asked Councilman Bill Greenlee to share with us his thoughts on constituent service, and whether 3-1-1 is a threat to this traditional aspect of City Council's job. The Councilman's take is here. This week, we get Managing Director Camille Barnett's thoughts on the matter.

Every day, hundreds of Philadelphians call various city departments in an effort to solve a variety of problems. In many cases, these taxpayers aren't sure which is the right department to call.

Often, in an effort to prompt action, they also call their City Council members for help as well. But regardless of who they call, the administration is ultimately responsible for solving these problems.

That's where the 3-1-1 system is playing a key role.

* 3-1-1 gives taxpayers one number to call for all nonemergency services. That means there's no more guessing about where to call with a specific concern. And while there's nothing wrong with contacting a council member for assistance, our goal is to make sure that government works for everyone, regardless of who you are, what district you live in or what the concern is.
 
* 3-1-1 also provides, for the first time, a way to track all service requests to ensure that they're completed, and it provides department managers with valuable data on how they're delivering service and helping them engage in the constant improvement of those services.
 
* 3-1-1 also serves to relieve the 9-1-1 system by reducing the huge volume of nonemergency calls inappropriately going to 9-1-1.
 
Similarly, 3-1-1 can be a tremendous boon to members of Council by reducing the number of minor informational calls that are made to their offices and serving as a clearinghouse for requests that come in to all 17 City Council members.
 
But, to be clear, in no way, shape or form is 3-1-1 meant to displace or replace City Council's constituent services.
 
The system will not and should not hamper the good work that Council members do in listening to constituents' problems and holding the city administration and its departments accountable for providing efficient and effective customer service.
 
The 3-1-1 system is less than a year old and has had to sustain budget cutbacks owing to the impact of the great recession on Philadelphia and the city's revenue collections. It is a work in progress, as any new service agency would be.
 
But through monthly problem-solving meetings, we are addressing the issues surrounding the development of our 3-1-1 system.
 
Council staffers are attending these meetings and more should take advantage of the opportunity. Where any persistent problems are uncovered, I remain committed to meeting with any Council member to deal with the issue.
 
In fact, I recently met with Council members to get their input into the ongoing development of our 3-1-1 system.
 
And we are making weekly reports to Council on feedback relating to system performance. I wholeheartedly agree with Councilman Greenlee in his recent op-ed that the 3-1-1 system is not in competition with the constituent service function in each City Council office.
 
Our mutual job is to work effectively and at the lowest cost to resolve our customers' problems. Taxpayers in Philadelphia deserve nothing less. 

Review city services on our sister site, City Howl.
Posted by Managing Director Camille Barnett @ 11:21 AM  Permalink | 2 comments
Comments   
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 6:27 PM, 11/02/2009
    The City administration is indeed responsible for solving some problems -- not all. City council can pick and choose, but refers the same problems to the same city departments that their own request lines or the 3-1-1 system would. This is all about who City Council members preserving their fiefdoms. If they really wanted to help, Council would give the operating departments the resources they need to actually investigate, respond, and then report these issues BACK to council. In many ways council creates artificial priorities in the operating departments by demanding and getting priority status on referrals whether or not the priority status is warranted. Every organizational entity wants to refer, monitor, advocate, and/or track requests for help, but the actual provision of services is the difficult daily grind of City employees who help make the City and its people work and live safely.
    — StephenPHL
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 11:43 PM, 11/02/2009
    I recently moved from New York to Philly since my husband has a better job here. We experienced these "council feeling threatened" issues when NY311 first opened but Mayor Blumberg was a strong advocate and supported administration leadership over the long run. Now the city of New York couldn't live without 311.
    — PhillyGirl21


2 comments
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