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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2005 10 10 Regular 500 COMMISSION AGENDA ITEM 500 Consent Informational Public Hearing Regular X September 12. 2005 Regular Meeting rC{F Mgr. / Dept. Authorization REQUEST: Information Services wishes to present to the Commission the consultants report on "communications issues" with respect to the City communicating effectively with its citizens and elected officials, and requests further direction from the Commission on how it wishes to proceed with the consultant's recommendations. PURPOSE: To inform and update the Commission on the research done with regard to difficulty that citizens and elected officials are reportedly having in trying to reach the City for business purposes and to gain further direction on how the Commission would like to proceed with the consultant's recommendations. CONSIDERATIONS: One of the Commission's primary concerns is that its citizens must be able to conduct their business with City staff quickly and easily. The general consensus among the Commissioners is that the inability to reach City departments is a common event, and not just a sporadic anomaly. Complaints regarding communications difficulties with the City have been received by: (1) Citizens to Commissioners (2) Direct reports from Commissioners describing their inability to reach department directors. S:\Information _ Services\Admin _ Docs\Agenda Items\FY 2006\October 2005\October 10, 2005\101005_ COMM _Regular _500_ Communications_ Issues.doc CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS CITY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING - OCTOBER 10, 2005 REGULAR AGENDA ITEM 500 PAGE20F4 The City contracted with RCC Consultants, Inc., to research the issues, identify and analyze the issues, and recommend corrective actions and solutions. The Mayor and Commission were interviewed, along with City departments. An inspection of the telephone system and available call volume documentation took place as well as some independent research to identify potential solutions. Recommendations Several recommendations were made in the report. A general summary of these recommendations is listed below. More detail can be obtained from the report. 1. modifications to be made to current automated attendant greeting 2. re-establish attendant position at City Hall 3. more fully utilize the Internet as a means of communicating with residents 4. assign Blackberry devices to department heads 5. expand FAQ to telephone system to record certain information 6. enact policies to ensure that callers get attended to properly 7. research the possibility of implementing a Customer Service 3-1-1 Call Center 8. In the long term, the City should begin planning for the replacement or upgrade of the existing telephone system to a Voice over Internet Protocol (V oIP) system, unified messaging, and others based on the convergence of voice and data services onto a common network. Item 1 - modifications to current attendant greeting can definitely be implemented by Information Services but will need to be planned and will have an associated programming cost that will need to be determined. Information Services will come back to the Commission with this information at a later date. Item 2 - re-establish attendant position at City Hall - this is a decision that will need to be made by the Commission. Once direction is given, a plan with associated costs can be put together and brought back to Commission. Item 3 - more fully utilize the Internet as a means of communicating with residents. Information Services continually looks for ways of using the Internet to improve citizen and City interaction and information sharing. Our Internet site has a F AQ section that could be expanded to include more telephone information and other helpful information. Inspection results are now available on-line. A variety of documents are available for download from the City's web site. Citizens have a way to provide comments and requests from our web site via BetterPlace application which is an online citizen comment and request tracking system. We will be glad to consider any further recommended improvements to our web site that would address the City's on-going "communications" issue. S:\Information _ Services\Admin _ Docs\Agenda Items\FY 2006\October 2005\October 10, 2005\101005_ COMM _Regular _500_ Communications _ Issues.doc CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS CITY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING - OCTOBER 10, 2005 REGULAR AGENDA ITEM 500 PAGE30F4 Item 4 - Blackberry devices have already been made available to Mayor, Commission, and department heads. Please note that this will not guarantee that a department head will be able to answer each and every call received. This needs to be discussed so that department heads will understand the expectations of the Commission on this issue. Does the Commission require the department heads to answer their office or cell phone every time it rings? It may be impractical to do so while in a meeting, while on another call, while away from one's desk, etc. Is there a problem with having a call go to voice mail during a time that it is impractical to answer the call as long as the call is returned in a timely manner? Item 5 - expand F AQ to telephone system to record certain information - We can certainly expand the FAQ's to the telephone system and have a selection on the main menu where callers can get information such as directions to City Hall, how to pay a utility bill, how to apply for an inspection, etc. This will have to be further investigated but can also be brought back to commission. Item 6 - enact policies to ensure that callers get attended to properly. This can be easily done administratively through the City Manager. Item 7 - research the possibility of implementing a Customer Service 3-1-1 Call Center - preliminary research has been already been done on this topic. Seminole County has secured the 3-1-1 number for Seminole County. However, they do not have an official 3-1-1 call center nor do they having funding for such a center. Instead, the 3-1-1 calls go to an existing general County switch board. The 3-1-1 number is not geographically orchestrated; it is per Central Office. This has posed a problem as Central Offices serve several communities and municipalities, as well as across County boundaries. Any 3-1-1 calls associated with the Seminole County central offices goes to County's main switchboard. Any calls that come in for an agency other than Seminole County are redirected to that particular agencies main number. As an example, if a caller from Winter Springs dialed 3- 1-1, the call would first go to the County's main switch board and would then be redirected to the main published City Hall number of 407-327-1800. Another example of problems posed by the 3-1-1 system not being geographically orchestrated would be a 3-1-1 call placed by a V olusia County resident being served out of a Sanford Central Office would go to Seminole County's main switchboard instead ofa Volusia County 3-1-1 call center. Item 8 - plan for the replacement of phone system - This should be given consideration and if the Commission desires, the phone system could be budgeted for replacement or partial replacement starting in FY 2007. VOIP systems are the S:\Information _ Services\Admin _ Docs\Agenda Items\FY 2006\October 2005\October 10, 2005\101005_ COMM _Regular _500_ Communications _ Issues.doc CITY OF WINTER SPRINGS CITY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING - OCTOBER 10, 2005 REGULAR AGENDA ITEM 500 PAGE40F4 way of the future for telephone communications. A consultant with a great deal of telecommunications experience and experience with new VOIP systems should be engaged to assist in the creation of an RFP and to assist staff in overseeing the entire project from bidding through completion. FUNDING: Not applicable at this time RECOMMENDATIONS: That the Commission review and evaluate the attached report and give direction as to how to proceed with each of the above recommendations. ATTACHMENTS: RCC Consulting Report COMMISSION ACTION: S:\Information _ Services\Admin _ Docs\Agenda Items\FY 2006\October 2005\October 10, 2005\101005 _ COMM _Regular _500_ Communications _Issues. doc A tT It C. ttrn f tV T =It J Final Report - September 2005 Introduction and Executive Summary The City Commission of the City of Winter Springs (the "City") has entered into an agreement with RCC Consultants, Inc. ("RCC") to review its telecommunications system in order to address concerns regarding reports of the frequent inability to reach staff by telephone, and to make recommendations to mitigate these concerns. This report is the result of the study undertaken by RCC, and includes a description of the specific tasks performed, RCC's findings and recommendations. The study included the following primary tasks: Interviews with the Mayor and Commissioners Interviews with 10 City departments Physical inspections of the telephone systems in service Review of available documentation describing telephone call volumes Independent research to identifY potential solutions The summary findings and recommendations that follow are described in greater detail later in the report. Summary Findings The City has enjoyed substantial growth. The population has grown from approximately 22,000 in 1990, to 31,000 in 2000, and 33,000 in 2004. This represents a population increase of 50% in 15 years. This growth creates a burden on City resources to serve the increased population. As the population grows, so does the demand for every service provided by the City - more building permits and inspections, more applications for utility services, more water bills, more registrations for children participating in sports programs, etc., all generating more calls to City departments. This in itself may be the most significant factor that has created the problems described by the Commission. (RCC does not have information on the level of City staffing and whether it has increased in proportion to the population growth.) The City has a fairly modern, full-featured telephone system that is not lacking any functionality that would prevent smooth communications among departments, or between outside callers and City departments. The primary areas of concern appear to be Utility Billing and Inspections, due to the high volumes of calls generated to both departments. The City has already taken some steps to improve the flow of telephone traffic by implementing some enhancements and reconfigurations to the telephone system. There are certain other configuration changes to the telephone system that the City should consider to improve the flow of telecommunications traffic between outside callers and City staff. There are additional steps that can be taken to improve communications through the use of other technologies. There are administrative steps, Le., policies that can be implemented to insure that callers receive responses to their incoming calls in a timely manner. It is critical to note, however, that the implementation of these policies assumes a staffing level to be able to handle the call volume. Summary Recommendations The report provides several steps that can be taken that are intended to relieve the issues presented. It is important to note up front that there is no one major technical or operational problem - no "magic bullet" - that, when implemented, will correct all the issues. There are, however, several suggestions that RCC has summarized below, and discussed in greater detail later in the report. RCC recommends that the City modify its current mam number Automated Attendant greeting to shorten the message and change and reduce the number of menu options. RCC recommends that the City re-establish the Attendant position at City Hall, to replace the existing Police Department position. The Attendant at the Police Department cannot properly handle the call volume for City departments andn 2 provide quality customer service to callers. The Police Department position should still be used for answering calls on weekends, holidays and after hours. RCC recommends that the City use new technologies to offload calls from citizens that require direct human involvement. One set of recommendations is to more fully exploit the Internet as a means of citizens being able to conduct its business with the City. RCC recommends that the City Issue Blackberry (or equivalent) devices to department heads to facilitate communications between Commissioners and department heads. The FAQ list on the City's web site is admirable. RCC recommends that the City expand its use of F AQs to its telephone system, and record certain information - directions to City Hall, how to pay a utility bill, how to apply for an inspection, etc. - using the existing Automated Attendant system, to offload repetitive calls for commonly requested information. RCC recommends that certain policies be enacted to guarantee that callers get attended to properly. These policies include: Messages left on voice mail should be responded to promptly, and definitely during the same business day (or first thing the following day if received late in the afternoon). If there is to be a "zero out" option from voice mail (that is "If you need assistance immediately, press '0' ") then there should always be a human that can assist the caller at the zero out destination. Automated attendant greetings should be as short as possible and provide as few selections to callers as possible. Two or three selections is best, four or five is okay, more than five is to be avoided. While not a formal recommendation at this time, one solution that has been implemented is several communities is a Customer Service Call Center, a 311 system, or similar service. This is described later in the report. 3 Project Activities and Findings The primary tasks performed to complete the projects were: Interviews with the Mayor and Commissioners RCC interviewed most Commissioners and the Mayor in order to gain their perspective on the issues relevant to the project. The interviews were conducted by telephone, and took place throughout the engagement. In general, all agreed that the primary concern is that citizens must be able to conduct their business with City departments. To do so, they must be able to communicate with City staff easily and quickly. The telephone remains the single most common form of communications between citizens and City departments, so the system must be configured to its best ability to support these communications. The consensus among the Commissioners is that the inability to reach City departments is a common event, and not just an occasional aberration. There are (1) citizen complaints to Commissioners, and (2) direct reports by Commissioners describing their inability to reach department heads. Different recommendations are suggested for these two concerns. Interviews with Department Heads RCC met with the following department heads on March 31, 2005: City Manager Finance/Utility Billing City Clerk Information Services Community Development General Services Utility Parks and Recreation Police Fire Public Works 4 Each department provided information regarding the responsibilities of the department in general, and how the telephone is used to communicate with citizens. In addition, RCC was able to make some general observations as it visited each department and facility. A summary of the findings from the interviews and visits follows. The prevailing message received from the City departments is that the workload of the typical City employee is such that the volume of telephone calls can become a hindrance to getting work done. RCC is not in a position to undertake a staffing analysis to determine whether there are adequate employees to perform every function. RCC would urge a policy that encourages employees to always answer incoming calls, while recognizing that there are instances when this will be impossible. The employee may be on another call, in a meeting, or completing time sensitive tasks with approaching deadlines. Specific items of interest from the interviews include: Utility Billing call volumes vary widely based on billing cycles. Approximately 3,000 bills and 600-800 delinquency notices are sent out weekly. Upon receipt, Utility Billing will receive up to 250 calls per day. Since staff is handling a high call volume, many calls are routed to voice mail. The department has instituted a policy whereby voice mail messages are to be retrieved and responded to within 2 hours of receipt of the call. To accommodate high message volumes, there are five mailboxes each with a capacity of 72 messages. Messages are initially left in the first (primary) mailbox. Then the messages are copied onto one of the four "backup" mailboxes, and deleted from the primary mailbox to make room for new messages. This process is time consuming for the voice mail system, and, as a result, messages may not be "available" when staff attempts to retrieve messages. This may affect the ability for staff to successfully comply with the two-hour return call policy. In addition, if the caller "zeroes out," the call is directed to the Manager's line. If the Manager is not available, the caller either leaves a message for the Manager, or "zeroes out" again, this time to the Police receptionist. In either case, the Utility Billing voice mail system, and its best intentions to return calls promptly, has been bypassed. 5 In the past several months, at the direction of the Commission, new policies with regard to the use of the "zero out" feature have been implemented. The new policy is that staff can no longer have its first "zero out" destination be the Police receptionist. Instead, the policy requires that the first line of defense be to route "zero out" calls to another individual within the department. In theory, this is an appropriate step. However, referring to common rules of voice mail etiquette (see web link on page 13), if callers are given a "zero out" option, it means that the caller does not want to leave a message, and wants to speak with someone that can provide assistance. It is critical that someone that can assist the caller be at the "zero out" destination to answer the call. In fiscal year 2007, Community Development will be implementing a wireless communications system that will expedite the process of recording inspection results. This system will allow inspectors in the field to communicate inspection results immediately after completing an inspection, and make the results available to applicants. This should have the impact of reducing telephone calls to the inspectors' lines. Site Surveys RCC inspected the City's telephone system. The telephone system platform is a Mitel SX-2000 Light. This system is a well-regarded and full-featured system that includes all the functionality to support any of the technical recommendations made herein. RCC is not familiar with the service provider that maintains the system, and cannot speak to its ability to provide the design and implementation support that would be required. As an observation, however, the current configuration does include a level of complexity that suggests a capable vendor. The one shortcoming that does stand out is that the system cannot provide the statistical information such as would be necessary to document the issues discussed in the report. For example, it would be helpful to be able to pull historical information quantifying the number of calls that are answered by the Police receptionist and transferred to a City department, and how many calls "zero out" to the Police receptionist, and other similar inquiries.e 6 In the short term, the current system should meet the City's requirements. In the longer term, the City should begin planning for the replacement or upgrade of this system. New technologies and features, in particular Voice over Internet Protocol (V oIP), unified messaging, and others based on the convergence of voice and data services onto a common network have taken hold in the industry. Almost every new system installed today is either VoIP, or IP-enabled. Some current systems have the ability to migrate from current technology (such as the City's current system) to VoIP without a complete system replacement. The City can and should investigate the feasibility of such a migration strategy with its current service provider. 7 Summary of Recommendations Operator Services A receptionist at the Police facility provides operator services for City Hall staff. The Operator position at City Hall was eliminated several years ago, partly as a cost savings measure, and partly because the Police facility is staffed 24x7. Calls reach the receptionist in two primary ways. First, when a caller does not make a selection quickly enough from the menu choices when dialing the main number, the call is transferred to the Police receptionist. Second, the "zero out" option for some staff is the Police receptionist, and the 2nd "zero out" option for most staff is the Police receptionist. That is, if a caller reaches voice mail and elects to "zero out," the call is typically transferred to another telephone in the same department. But if that individual is not available, then the call is then routed to the Police receptionist. In RCC's judgment, this situation is probably the single largest contributor to the issues that initiated this project. Several problems are created, including: 1. As noted, the transfer of calls to the receptionist happens too quickly, so some calls are transferred to the receptionist that would otherwise have been directed to the correct department. This adds at least one step to the ability of a caller to reach the right department. 2. The Police receptionist has little information to assist in determining where to transfer calls. Is the individual at work, on vacation, at lunch? Has he/she selected the right department to transfer the call, based on the caller's inquiry? Also, the Police receptionist is not the best person to attempt to help callers with their inquiries. 3. The worst case scenario is as follows: a. A caller dials the main number, and is routed to the Police receptionist after making no selection from the 12 choices. b. The Police receptionist takes the call, and directs the caller to an extension at City Hall. 8 c. The City staff person is not at is/her desk, so the call is routed to his/her voice mail. d. The caller "zeroes out" to reach a human. e. No one is at the "zero out" destination, so the caller is routed to a 2nd voice mail. f. The caller again opts to "zero out," and is routed back to the Police receptionist. g. The Police receptionist attempts to route the caller again, and the cycle continues. None of this discussion is intended to be critical of the Police operator in any way. RCC's observation is that Police staff handling City department telephone calls perform the function well under adverse conditions. Based on a count of call volumes taken between May 9 and June 1,2005, Police handles approximately 45 calls for City Hall departments every day. 45% of these calls are directed to Community Development. To further understand the types of calls being handled by the Police operator, another survey was conducted the week of July 25, 2005. Results of the survey are indicated in the following tables. The first table indicated the call volumes, sorted by the number that the caller dialed. The second table indicates the departments with the bulk of the calls. Date 327-1800 DID # Other Means Total July 25, 2005 61 1 11 73 July 26, 2005 35 1 7 43 July 27, 2005 27 10 9 46 July 28. 2005 43 18 11 72 July 29, 2005 50 8 4 62 Totals 216 (73% of calls) 38 42 296 Note - Calls arnvmg by "Other Means" includes calls to the following telephone numbers: 327-1000 327-5953 327-7596 327-7975 327-7999 9 Destination July 25 July 26 July 27 July 28 July 29 Totals Permits 2] 9 22 33 2] 106 (36% of all calls) Water 8 6 6 6 4 30 Code Enforcement 9 5 3 3 4 24 Human Resources 3 3 1 0 3 10 Public Works 3 2 2 0 2 9 Dispatch 1 ] 0 ] 3 6 Recommendation RCC recommends that the City re-establish the position of City Hall Telephone Operator. This position should be staffed during normal business hours, and have adequate backup to cover lunch breaks, vacations, etc. The rationale for this recommendation is that an Operator based at City Hall will be: · Well versed in City Hall departmental operations, so that incoming calls can be properly routed to the correct department/individual · Equipped to triage certain calls and provide answers to frequently asked questions, thus avoiding the need to redirect these calls · More aware of staff vacations, lunch breaks, conference/meetings and the day-to-day activities at City Hall to avoid the constant transferring of calls that will wind up in voice mail After hours and weekend calls should reach an automated attendant, with options to reach individual departments for call backs on the next business day, and an option to "zero out" to the Police operator in case of an emergency. There are three different models that can be investigated to provide Operator services to City departments: 1. The simplest approach is for the City to staff a single full time position dedicated solely to the function of providing Operator services. RCC would recommend that this individual be centrally located but not in the lobby of City Hall. In the lobby, this position would quickly become a receptionist position, and citizens trying to reach City Hall by telephone would quickly become second priorities to citizens 10 that appear in person. As noted, the Operator should be knowledgeable on the operation and responsibilities of all City departments. With this knowledge, the Operator can "triage" incoming calls, provide first level assistance, answer frequently asked questions, and then, when necessary, route the call to the appropriate department. With the proper equipment, the Operator will know which extensions are already on calls, and can inform callers before attempting to route calls. "Ms. Smith is on the phone right now. Would you like to be transferred to her voice mail?" City staff could (and should) inform the Operator when going to lunch, on vacation, etc. so callers can be informed. Depending on call volume, the Operator may also "escort" the call when routing it to the department. That is, the Operator would not blindly transfer the call. Instead, the Operator would remain on the line until the department answers the call, or until the caller decides to leave voice mail. The Operator can also be the final "zero out" option for callers that have directly dialed a department and reached voice mail. This will insure that callers that "zero out" reach a human. 2. There are two customer service counters in the lobby of City Hall. It might be feasible to augment the staff at one of these counters by one or more Full Time Equivalent (FTE) positions, and the Operator functions described above could be added to existing responsibilities and shared by all staff. 3. The City can consider implementing a Customer Service Call Center dedicated to handling citizen inquiries. This service could be set up similarly to the City's web-based Citizen Comment and Request program. It typically involves a small call center - perhaps 3 people - and software that allows call center agents to document calls, create work orders, distribute work orders to proper departments, track progress of work orders, and communicate status and resolution to the original caller. See www.azteca.comforadescriptionofCityWorks@.an 11 example of this product. I Combined with the Call Center (ACD) functionality that could be implemented within the existing telephone system, the City would have the technology to take dir~ct and proactive actions to not only resolve the problems that generated this engagement, but to deliver truly first class services to its citizens. In certain cases, such Call Centers are implemented as "311" systems. 311 IS a service provided by most local telephone companies, and is intended to support non-emergency calls to municipal government. Generally, 311 is implemented in one of two ways: 311 may be implemented In a Police/public safety setting as a means of offloading non-emergency calls to 911 centers. The City of Baltimore, MD was first to implement such a system, in 1996. Within two months, 42% of its 911 calls went instead to 311, substantially improving response times to true emergencies. In 1997, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) formalized the service and reserved the number nationwide. Since that time, the FCC has also set aside 211 for social services calls, and 511 for traffic information. 311 may also be implemented in a City department, typically Public Works, as a means of handling non-emergency, quality of life service calls - potholes, fallen trees, noise complaints, cat up a tree, etc. This approach is similar to the Customer Service Call Center described above. The City can investigate the availability ofthis service with its local telephone service provider. Incoming Call Handling According to reports generated by the City's telephone system, approximately 24,000 incoming calls are directed to the system monthly. This includes calls to specific departments and calls to the main number - 407-327-1800. ] RCC does not endorse the CityWorks@ product, and only identifies it as a product that is illustrative of the software platforms that can support a Customer Service Call Center. 12 Incoming calls are either dialed directly to departments, using Direct Inward Dialing (DID) service, or they are dialed to the City main number. An Automated Attendant answers calls to the main number, and a greeting is played. The greeting is a full 60 seconds long, and gives callers 12 selections from which to choose: 1. If the call is an emergency, hang up and dial 9-1-1. 2. If you know the extension number, dial it now. 3. For an Operator, dial "0" 4. For Dial-by-Name, dial "8" 5. For General Information, dial "1" - followed by this sub-menu: a. For City Commission Meetings, dial "1" b. For Advisory Committee Meetings, dial "2" c. For Special Events, dial "3" 6. For Zoning, dial "2" 7. For Comprehensive Planning, dial "3" 8. For Code Enforcement, dial "4" 9. For Water Bill Questions, dial "5" 10. For Sewage Problems, dial "6" 11. For Human ResourceslPurchasing, dial "7" 12. For a Departmental Directory, dial "9" Several common rules of Automated Attendant etiquette are broken here: The greeting is too long, at 60 seconds. There are 12 menu choices. As noted earlier, most experts recommend no more than five (5) menu options. There is no ability for the caller to repeat the greeting or hear the greeting a 2nd time. With 12 selections, the ability to replay the greeting would be helpful. The call is routed to an Operator too soon after the greeting is completed. If no selection is made within two (2) seconds after the final menu option, the caller is re-routed to the Operator. Recommendation The City should modifY its Automated Attendant greeting in line with accepted standards and practices. Generally, RCC would recommend no more than five menu selections. In 13 the case of the City, there are two menu selections that do not require entering a choice (1) If this is an emergency, hang up and dial 9-1-1, and (2) If you know your party's extension, you may dial it at any time. These selections should remain as is. The remaining selections should be reduced to a maximum of five, and, where necessary sub- menus should be inserted to direct callers to more specific locations. Again, the number of selections should be minimized and the number of levels of sub menus should not exceed a total of three levels. If the Operator recommendation is implemented, one menu selection should be to press '0' for assistance if the caller is unsure of the proper department or individual. RCC refers the City to http://www.wavmail.com/etiquette.htm for common automated attendant and voice mail rules of etiquette. New Technologies to Reduce Telephone Call Volumes RCC recommends that the City investigate new technologies to offload repetitive, routine calls from citizens. This will allow staff to provide better service to citizens that do require specialized attention. One set of recommendations is to more fully exploit the Internet as a means of citizens being able to conduct its business with the City. The City has already taken some several steps to do so, including: There is a lengthy list of Frequently Asked Questions (F AQs) that answer many ofthe more common citizen inquiries on the City's web site. Inspection results are available on line, with a plan in the works to implement a more time-sensitive solution using wireless communications from field inspectors, so that inspection results are available more quickly. The web site provides the ability to download and print a variety of forms commonly used by the City. There is a Citizen Comment and Request process that allows any citizen to complete a web-based form to submit an inquiry to the City. 14 Recommendation As the City enhances these "eGovemment" capabilities, additional applications to be considered should include: Ability to pay utility bills (and other fees, taxes, fines, etc.) on line via credit/debit card or checking account, on a 24x7x365 basis. RCC understands that a contract with a 3rd party company to accept payment of utility bills on-line or by telephone by credit card has been executed and is in the testing phase. Ability to complete and submit forms (building permits, inspection requests, applications to initiate, transfer or discontinue utility services, registration for City-sponsored sports leagues and programs, etc.) on a 24x7x365 basis Calls from Commissioners to Department Heads A related issue raised by the Commission is the requirement to easily reach department heads. Since department heads are often in meetings or away from their office telephones, they cannot always be reached immediately. Recommendation RCC understands that most Commissioners and Department Heads have been issued Blackberry devices to facilitate communications with department heads. RCC supports this approach. The Blackberry device can act both as a cellular telephone and an email device, so the user can receive either type of communication at any time, night or day, and at any location within the radio coverage range ofthe device. The use of such a device will, at a minimum and under most circumstances, insure that the user has received the communication when the communication was sent. If an email is sent, the user will receive the email, and will have the ability to respond immediately. If a voice call is made, the user can answer the call anywhere, or, if the call cannot be answered, the caller can leave a voice mail message that the user will receive immediately. There is no need for the user to return to his/her office to check voice mail messages. 15 That being said, there will be times when it is inappropriate or impossible for a user to answer telephone calls, whether from a citizen, a Commissioner, another City employee, or a vendor. For example, it is generally considered to be disrespectful to answer a telephone call (cellular or land line) when in a meeting, regardless of the caller, unless the call is expected and pertains to a critical matter. The name or title of the caller does not necessarily give the call priority over the meeting. The meeting may be with one of the citizens whom this project is intended to serve. This is not intended, however, to give users license to not answer calls. The first rule is that if your phone rings, answer it. The Blackberry device will provide users with the flexibility to be away from their desks, while maintaining communication capability. Policies and Procedures RCC recommends that certain policies be enacted to guarantee that callers get attended to properly. These policies include: Messages left on voice mail should be responded to promptly, and definitely during the same business day (or first thing the following day if received late in the afternoon). If there is to be a "zero out" option from voice mail (that is "If you need assistance immediately, press '0' ") then there should always be a human that can assist the caller at the zero out destination. Automated attendant greetings should be as short as possible and provide as few selections to callers as possible. Two or three selections is best, four or five is okay, more than five is to be avoided. As noted earlier, these policies, in particular those pertaining to voice mail etiquette, make the assumption that there is adequate staff to handle the call volumes, respond to voice mail messages, and be available when callers "zero out." RCC cannot confirm whether this is an accurate assessment. 16 Summary The issues faced by the City of Winter Springs are common to municipalities across the USA. Limited, controlled budgets require governments to "do more with less," while still meeting the expectations of a growing population. In general, RCC's observation is that the City is doing a credible job at balancing the need to limit expenses while providing high quality customer service. Several steps have been taken to improve and enhance communications with citizens, including improvements to the telephone system, increased use of the Internet and City web site, and new wireless systems. Other recommendations have been offered to further improve communications. RCC stands ready to respond to any questions that arise from this report, and to assist the City in the investigation and implementation of any of its recommendations. 17