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311 - Think of it as a jobs program for more government nannies! And paid for by the Feds!
Regional 311 help-line system weighed Valley cities could opt in to countywide service by Michelle Ye Hee Lee - Aug. 21, 2011 12:00 AM The Arizona Republic Say your car hits a pothole. Or maybe a neighborhood stray is barking incessantly. Or there is new graffiti painted on your alley wall. Who do you call? In many major U.S. cities, there is one number to dial for those kinds of non-emergency government services: 311. And while that is not presently the case in the Valley, local governments in Maricopa County are in the early stages of creating a regional 311 system. There are several benefits to implementing a 311 system, according to administrators from various cities. For example, consolidating non-emergency calls into one system lightens the burden on local 911 call centers. Cities can recognize and track trends in services that residents need, and reallocate resources accordingly. Also, residents are less likely to become frustrated with being bounced from one municipal department to another looking for help. "It was easier for the public to remember one easy number: 311," said Audrey Mathis, Chicago's director of 311 city services. "It allowed us to work more efficiently in that, because it's one system, it was able to simplify and shorten the amount of time between when residents reported a problem and when it got resolved." Idea takes seed A 311 system in the Valley became possible in 2007, when Maricopa County gained rights to the three-digit number from the federal government. The county wanted a similar system for the region after seeing the success of 311 systems nationwide, said Steve Wetzel, director of the county's Office of Enterprise Technology. Budget cuts in 2008 shifted priorities, and plans for a Maricopa County 311 system never materialized. Now, the idea is back on the table. Tempe plans to launch its own phone system for non-emergency government services in spring 2012. Rather than start a system just for the city, Tempe officials want to involve other jurisdictions, said Shelley Hearn, Tempe community administrator. A big reason Tempe is seeking regional involvement is because 311 is a catchier number to market than the seven-digit number the city would have to use if it is not a regional system, because Maricopa County holds the rights to 311. The Maricopa Association of Governments, a coalition of local governments that serves as a regional planning agency, last month formed a group to create a 311 model for cities, towns and county governments in the metropolitan area. MAG will evaluate the technology infrastructure that the system would need and how costs could be shared between local governments. In Maricopa County, it is not unusual for a Phoenix resident to work in Tempe and socialize in Scottsdale. That is why a regional 311 system makes sense for the Valley, said Audrey Skidmore, MAG information-technology manager. "There is an opportunity to put out a consistent message, so it's not as confusing to the public (to have different numbers to call for non-emergencies)," she said. Cities embrace number Residents in Los Angeles, Baltimore and many other cities already dial 311 for non-emergency services. In some of those cities, residents can track call requests online to see what has been done about everything from junk vehicles to high weeds in their neighborhood. Call requests run the gamut, from road salt for icy streets in Chicago to the Ravens' kickoff time in Baltimore and missed trash pick-up in Akron, Ohio. Baltimore, which in 1996 became the first U.S. city to implement a 311 system, takes about 3,000 city-service calls and non-emergency police calls every day. Its 311 agents can write a police report for missing or stolen property for up to $1,500 rather than dispatching city police, said Lisa Allen, Baltimore's 311 call-center manager. According to MAG data, the number of 911 calls dropped by 42 percent in Baltimore's first year of its 311 system. Dallas' 311 system answers about 1.3 million calls a year. The city's call center also handles information about courts and detention services. Residents can call about their court dates, fines and warrants. Residents also can submit service requests online or at a mobile 311 unit. "It's probably one of our most popular features, quite honestly. People like the fact that they can call one place and have their service request taken, or they can get information," said Eva Liggins, assistant director of 311 in Dallas. MAG eyes options Based on MAG's preliminary discussions, the Valley 311 system could have a voice-recognition service that would direct a resident's call to the right city or town. Local governments likely would opt in to the system, Skidmore said. They would decide how to handle 311 calls that get routed to their agencies. If they do not want to participate, they could set up a recording that refers callers to a website or a separate phone number. It is not clear how much the system in Maricopa County would cost at the front-end. Skidmore said MAG's 311 study group will look into cost-sharing options. Currently, Phoenix residents can find a three-page document on the city's website that lists telephone numbers for all city services. Having a 311 system would consolidate the dozens of numbers into one easy phone number, said Jane Morris, executive assistant in the Phoenix City Manager's Office. "What 311 would allow us to do is to be able to bridge many more numbers into that number and be able to simplify, from the public's perspective, how to get questions answered," Morris said. "It eliminates the first step, 'Where do I call?' They know what the issue is, they know the problem, but they don't know who to call. That seems to be the biggest advantage to the customer, to know two numbers: 911 and 311." Queen Creek Mayor Gail Barney said he would wait until MAG has definitive plans before committing to a 311 system. There already is a point person at the Queen Creek town office that handles non-emergency calls, which is sufficient for the town of about 26,000 residents, Barney said. Barney said he would like to see how much it would cost the town to participate. "If the 311 is going to cost Queen Creek some money to participate in, it's an amount that we have not budgeted. I just (want) the option to opt out if it looked like it was going to be financially prohibitive to have the service that I think we already are covering quite well as a community," Barney said. |