Tag: complaints

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Monitoring the Pothole Buzz

Potholes in an asphalt roadway.Seems like over the last year, several sites have popped up offering people a chance to create a "to do" list for their local public works department. From logging potholes to traffic problems and graffiti, websites like FixMyStreet, SeeClickFix, City Sourced, PublicStuff, Lagan311, and many others are encouraging citizens to upload problems onto maps. Three years ago when FixMyStreet was the only site like this out there, it seemed like a great idea. Particularly when SeeClickFix opened up for those of us in the U.S. But now there are many services like this, and citizens using the sites are expecting that we will see their problem regardless of where it is posted. However, one city cannot keep track of all sites offering these services and then spend time monitoring each one on a daily basis.

Fortunately cities like San Francisco have taken the lead in providing us a solution. Earlier this year, they launched their own Open311 program designed to allow these services to interact with San Francisco's data. The other key to implementing this interaction has been the development of an Open311 standard organized by OpenPlans – a non-profit organization working to support open government and citizen engagement. The group's Open311 project "provides open communication with public services and local government." What this means is that all services, including our work order systems, will have a common language for transferring information. And if our work order system has been well designed, it will be able to reach out and grab all the issues posted on these sites. It should also offer us the opportunity to only pull the issues located within our jurisdictional boundaries.

So where does this all leave us today? Some might be thinking it isn't something they really have to worry about. But based on what I have seen happening, you will eventually have to address it. The sites are not going away – they are only increasing in number. And once citizens find these sites, elected officials are not far behind. If one of their constituents has a concern that has not been taken care of, you know you will be getting a call. 

If you are fortunate enough to already have a work order program that has adopted this open standard, you should just need an upgrade. If you don't have a work order system or CRM (customer relationship management) program, but you are in the market for one, just make sure the program provides this service. Finally, if you can't afford to upgrade or purchase, you could try visiting the most popular sites being used by your citizens and grabbing or subscribing to the feed of issues. Most offer the opportunity to "follow a zip code" or "create a watch area." Then whenever anything gets posted, the issue is sent to your email. The Open311 Wiki offers a list of current services here:

http://wiki.open311.org/Main_Page#311_Services

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Our city crews only work in our city…

Like many other public works departments, we received our share of complaints over this winter season. Every year there are a few that stick in your mind and are hard to forget. Usually for me, these are the complaints involving an angry tirade from an irate citizen. This year the two that remained with me came from two different people and involved no yelling at all.

 The first was from a citizen in a neighboring city. In a statement to the local paper, he expressed his disagreement with our council's decision to spend a large sum of money on a particular project in our city. He felt that instead the money should be spent fixing his road.

The second complaint came from another citizen in the neighboring city. It was during a snowstorm, and he insisted that we immediately plow his road in front of his home.

Now, the key point in both of these complaints is that the person complaining did not live in our city, and addressing the complaint would have required our city to perform some service for them in their city. Initially, the first reaction to these types of complaints might be to either ignore them or just shake our head. In our case, we obviously could not address each person's complaint because our city is not responsible for performing work or services in another city unless there was a pre-existing agreement, which in this case there was not. However, I could not stop thinking about these requests.

 From the calm, confident tone and manner in which each person expressed his concern, I think that each truly believed that he was making a valid request. If so, this is proof of a significant lack of understanding by the average citizen of how local government operates. (Actually, I have always suspected this, but now I have a specific instance to which I can refer.) I just cannot comprehend that somewhere in our upbringing, there is such a lack of education about how our governmental system works. Such a lack that someone living in one city would actually believe that another city has any type of responsibility to provide them services.

Everyone has become so much more dependent on government as families move apart and support systems break down. This imposes an even greater need for citizens to understand, trust, and get involved in their local government.  Unfortunately, this is rarely the case. Instead, this lack of understanding creates frustration for the citizen whose needs are not met and creates more issues and challenges for those of us working in public works as we try to take the time to explain the parameters in which we operate.

What is the answer? Whose responsibility is it to educate the public? Some public works departments across the country, as understaffed and unfunded as many of us are, do try to make an effort to do our part in spreading information about our operations. The American Public Works Association, APWA, promotes Public Works Week and offers advice and tools to implement an informational event in your community on their website at www.apwa.net.

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