WHEREAS, Many cities throughout the United States, including New York, Chicago and Baltimore, have instituted enormously successful 311 contact centers and have realized more efficient city services to both emergency and non- emergency complaints; and
WHEREAS, Other cities have successfully used the 311 call centers as a way of addressing the collective needs of the entire city and have also seen greater cooperation among various city departments where it had never existed in the past; and
WHEREAS, 311 call centers provide the public with quick, easy access to all government services and information and provide insight into ways to improve City government through accurate, consistent measurement and analysis of service delivery citywide; and
WHEREAS, As in other cities, 311 call center features may include calls answered by a live operator, 24 hours a day, seven days a week and immediate access to language translation services; and
WHEREAS, In 2005, there were 3.28 million calls received by 911 operators, many of which were non-emergency and could have been handled by a 311 Constituent Contact Center, thus taking pressure of the 911 emergency call center; and
WHEREAS, Our citizens may be better served by a 311 Constituent Contact Center and realize better City services in both emergency and non-emergency situations and should have both options available to them within the near future; now therefore
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That authority be given to the joint Committees on Public Safety and Legislative Oversight to hold hearings on whether the City should establish a 311 Constituent Contact Center to unburden the current 911 emergency call center and make Philadelphia more responsive to it citizens’ concerns.
End