HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Agenda - 2018-02-26 SJeff Bunn
Manager, Council & Committee Services/Deputy Clerk
Legislated Services
Finance and Corporate Services
nd
200 King St. W. – 2 Floor
Kitchener, ON N2G 4G7
Ph. 519-741-2200 Ext. 7278
TTY 1-866-969-9994
Jeff.Bunn@kitchener.ca
www.kitchener.ca
February 23, 2018
Mayor B. Vrbanovic and Members of Council
Re: Special Council Meeting – Monday, February 26, 2018
Notice is hereby given that Mayor B. Vrbanovic has called a special meeting of City Council to be
held in the Council Chamber on Monday, February 26, 2018 commencing at 3:45 p.m. to consider
the following:
1. Strategic Session
a.Update on Corporate Customer Service Initiatives – Jana Miller
Community Services Department report CSD-18-050 is attached.
2. In-camera Meeting Authorization
Council is asked to enact the following resolution to authorize an in-camera meeting:
“That an in-camera meeting of City Council be held this date to consider a matter subject to
solicitor-client privilege and a land acquisition/disposition matter.”
The meeting will then recess and reconvene immediately following the in-camera meeting this date.
3. Potential Land Acquisition
Council is asked to consider any recommendation arising from in-camera discussion this date.
Yours truly,
J. Bunn
Manager, Council / Committee Services &
Deputy City Clerk
c: Corporate Leadership Team
C. Tarling
D. Saunderson
J. Rodrigues
Records
Accessible formats and communication supports are available upon request. If you require
assistance to take part in a city meeting or event, please call 519-741-2345 or TTY 1-866-969-
9994.
CITY OF KITCHENER
COUNCIL
IN-CAMERA AGENDA
DATE:MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2018
TIME: IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING (5:30 P.M.)
LOCATION: CAUCUS ROOM
Note: Any member of Council may question the appropriateness of a listed in-camera
item. This may be done during the special Council meeting or at the beginning of the
in-camera session.
ITEMS FOR CONSIDERATION
1. Solicitor-Client Privilege (35B Weber Street West) (10 min)
Staff will provide an update and seek direction with respect to this matter.
2. Land Acquisition / Disposition (Potential Land Acquisition) (30 min)
Staff will provide an update and seek direction with respect to this matter.
J. BUNN
DEPUTY CITY CLERK
REPORT TO: Council Strategy Session
DATE OF MEETING: February 26, 2018
SUBMITTED BY: Jana Miller, Executive Office,519-741-2200 x7231
PREPARED BY: Jana Miller, Executive Director, -741-2200 x7231
WARD (S) INVOLVED: All
DATE OF REPORT: February 19, 2018
REPORT NO.: CSD-18-050
SUBJECT:Update on Corporate Customer Service Initiatives
_________________________________________________________________________
RECOMMENDATION:
For information only.
BACKGROUND:
In January 2018, after a comprehensive review, a new organizational structure for the City was
introduced to address key review themes. Not surprisingly,
providing service to citizens, one of the key themes of the organizational review related to
enhancing customer service delivery. For example, the review identified:
The rge to function optimally.
There is a need to better group related functions and services.
There is a need to speed up the pace of the and
In the coming weeks, the City will address these review findings by putting a new
organizational structure in place that includes realigned departments and the establishment of
a dedicated Corporate Customer Service Division.
REPORT:
There is substantial work already
Strategy and on the establishment of the new Corporate Customer Service Division. This
strategic session is intended to provide an update to Council on:
The establishment & focus of the new Corporate Customer Service Division
Immediate actions Closing the Loop with Citizens & Customer Service Review
The results of a recent statistically representative survey of 600 Kitchener residents regarding
ll also be shared with City Council.
*** This information is available in accessible formats upon request. ***
Please call 519-741-2345 or TTY 1-866-969-9994 for assistance.
1 - 1
New Corporate Customer Service Division
existing strengths including its
strong customer service culture. Increased focus on those strengths will come through the
establishment of a dedicated Corporate Customer Service Division.
Established within existing budget and head count, the new division will be a corporate
function housed within the Community Services Department whose substantial work with our
community is done almost entirely through citizen-facing services.
With dedicated leadership and resources, the new division will not only address the identified
need to speed up the pace of the ,but that work can nowbe
done with a more specific focus on removing red tape for citizens and improving the quality of
their service experience with us. The intent is to shift our approach to customer service from
the responsive, issue-centred focus of today, to an approach that is still responsive but is
also strategic and proactive in trying to address citizen needs before they become issues.
Additionally, the new division will focus on building a foundation for corporate reporting and
and City Council can make data-driven
service decisions and improvements in the future.
Other outcomes from the organizational review are also intended to improve service to
citizens. This will happen through ensuring strong leadership for each department and better
aligning like functions with the intent of uniting staff behind a common service vision and
mandate, building strong staff relationships and increasing collaboration to improve processes,
policies and service delivery.
Immediate Actions
As part of the approved 2018 Business Plan, staff is committed to working on four specific
corporate customer service related projects this year:
1. Closing the loop with citizens (Pilot in 2018)
2. Customer Service Review (Citizen-First Service Culture) (2019)
3. Development of a new e-eservices plan (Council approval Q4, 2018)
4. Expanding CRM technology (2018 and beyond)
While work is underway to advance all four of these projects, this strategic session with City
Council will focus on providing information and seeking feedback on the first two closing the
loop with citizens and the Customer Service Review.
Closing the Loop with Citizens
Timely issue resolution drives customer satisfaction and an important component of that
City
important to note that there are currently efforts being made to provide
.
*** This information is available in accessible formats upon request. ***
Please call 519-741-2345 or TTY 1-866-969-9994 for assistance.
1 - 2
For example:
When a citizen contacts the Corporate Contact Centre by phone, they are able to
submit a service request and are offered a reference number for that request. They can
speak to a contact centre representative at any time in the future to receive a status
update and/or the outcome of that request.
When the Corporate Contact Centre receives an email from the public, the citizen
receives a response.
If a complaint should have to be escalated to management for any reason, citizens are
communicated with throughout the process, until resolution of the issue.
To advance progress on closing the loop with citizens, staff will take the immediate action
(within the next three months) of developing a pilot with a City service where we will implement
an automatic email notification to citizens to advise, in all cases, that their specific service
request has been closed and, where appropriate, to advise on the outcome of their service
request. The pilot will be monitored for six months with the expectation that it will expand to
more City services beginning within 12 months.
-
-
-
--
-
The pilot project will have a multi service channel focus, meaning that no matter how a citizen
notifies the City of their service request by telephone, email/online or face to face they will
be offered the opportunity to receive email notification of closure on the
initiated. After providing consent for their participation in the pilot, they will receive:
An email notifying them of the creation of a formal service request related to their
complaint, including information about:
o Our service standards and what they can expect in terms of the amount of time it
takes to resolve these types of requests
o How we define closure of their particular request
o And, whether they can expect to see how the request was addressed, as well as
notification of the closure of the request, or just the latter. If we are not able to
*** This information is available in accessible formats upon request. ***
Please call 519-741-2345 or TTY 1-866-969-9994 for assistance.
1 - 3
share how the request was addressed for any reason, citizens will be made
aware of why. (eg. privacy concerns)
closure, they will receive a follow-up email advising that their request has been closed.
o As mentioned, depending on the service, citizens may also receive standard
information about how the complaint was addressed.
It should be noted that there are some key considerations that staff will need to address as we
develop and expand the pilot. Considerations include:
Level of detail provided
The detail in the closure notifications will look different, depending on the service.
o Closure of the request can generally be shared, but in some cases, privacy of
information may not allow for sharing details about how the service interaction
was resolved. Eg. Bylaw complaints involving individuals or their property.
Service standards & processes
It will be important to ensure set service standards and robust business processes are
in place for all participating services so that citizens are receiving both consistent
information and service experiences around request closure. This is a key criteria for
pilot expansion.
Manage citizen expectations
It will be important to clearly define closure for each service so that citizens know what
they can expect to receive andso we can ensure that the service level is achievable for
City staff.
Citizens will anticipate quick, perhaps even real-time, closure of service requests. It is
important to note that while our Corporate Contact Centre logs service requests 24-7,
most of the serviceprofessionals who resolve issues for citizens and would invoke the
automatic closure notification once their work on the request is completed work
daytime hours, five days a week. This will need to be considered as we set manageable
service standards and manage citizen expectations.
Change management
It is anticipated that change management will be required to both introduce staff to the
pilot and manage its expansion into other services.
While there are considerations to work through, and each service may present its own unique
intent to implement closure notifications for as many City services as
possible.
Additionally, staff believes that the pilot presents an added opportunity for service improvement
because it enables us to better communicate
they know what they can expect. This will occur naturally as more services use the automatic
*** This information is available in accessible formats upon request. ***
Please call 519-741-2345 or TTY 1-866-969-9994 for assistance.
1 - 4
closure notifications, but we will also explore how to create more public awareness of our
service standards through our website and other means.
The broader Close the Loop Strategy, identified as a project within the 2018 business plan, will
focus on expanding the initial pilot across City services and improving consistency on service
closure notifications for citizens ensuring that they can receive satisfactory closure to their
requests no matter what service channel they reach out to us on.
Council Questions:
Staff currently defines
During the Council Strategy
Session, Council will be asked for their feedback on the following question:
1.
want in terms of closure?
2. Do you have suggestions for services you would like to see us pilot closure
notifications on?
Customer Service Review
Staff will complete a comprehensive Customer Service Review including the launch of
extensive employee and community engagement campaigns
May-September, 2018). This review will create:
A corporate customer service vision to unite staff behind
New corporate customer service standards for how staff will provide services to citizens
A prioritized list of City processes that need to be improved to create a
more positive experience for the customer.
A prioritized list of City e-
website.
Through this review, we had originally intended to engage a minimum of 500 staff through a
survey and one-on-one interviews, largely with frontline staff, across every division in the City.
Response to the survey alone, launched in the first week of the campaign (Feb. 12), has been
overwhelming with more than 800 staff participating at the time this report was written. Staff
also intend to engage a minimum of 2,000 residents through this review, conducted largely
through a survey and attendance at City facilities and events.
The upcoming citizen engagement campaign will also be informed by the results of a
statistically representative survey of 600 Kitchener residents that took place between
November 30 and December 10, 2017. The survey results have been weighted to reflect the
demographic composition of Kitchener, according to the 2016 Census, with a margin of error of
4%, at the 95% confidence level.
The survey, which
with the City revealed key findings, including:
*** This information is available in accessible formats upon request. ***
Please call 519-741-2345 or TTY 1-866-969-9994 for assistance.
1 - 5
t groups and retain a
municipalities. As a result, a future goal should be to increase the percentage of citizens
who indicated they are with Kitchener services.
customer satisfaction with City
services. This is the main opportunity to improve satisfaction scores among Kitchener
residents.
This initial community input from the statistically-representative survey will be used to inform
the questions staff will ask of citizens during future phases of this review, later this year. It is
anticipated that the outcome of all of the engagement that forms this comprehensive review
including a series of recommendations for improvement will be before Council in early 2019
for its consideration.Once considered by City Council, the recommendations contained in this
review will constitute the work plan of the new Corporate Customer Service Division through
the next term of Council.
Please note, Council will see a full presentation of the citizen survey results at the strategic
session and it has also been appended to this report.
Council Question:
The results of the recent statistically representative survey of Kitchener residents regarding the
will be presented to City Council at the strategic session.
Council will be asked the following question in order to gather its input into future phases of the
community engagement component of this review:
1. Having seen the results of our initial citizen engagement, what questions would
you like us to ask citizens in future phases of the public consultation?
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT:
INFORM The community comprehensive customer service
review, taking place May-August 2018, through a comprehensive public awareness plan that
community centres
and City facilities and staff visits to City facilities and events.
CONSULT Internal and external stakeholders will be consulted as part of the Customer
Service Review current customer
servicepractices
service channels.
ACKNOWLEDGED BY: Michael May, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer
Attached: APPENDIX A Results of statistically-representative citizen survey
*** This information is available in accessible formats upon request. ***
Please call 519-741-2345 or TTY 1-866-969-9994 for assistance.
1 - 6
1
CITY OF KITCHENER | 2017 CUSTOMER SERVICE SURVEY |
Presentation
26, 2018
City of Kitchener FEBRUARY
2017 Customer Service Satisfaction Survey
1 - 7
2
, 2017.
th
and December 10
th
CITY OF KITCHENER | 2017 CUSTOMER SERVICE SURVEY |
The City of Kitchener engaged Environics Research to conduct a telephonesurvey with a representative sample of Kitchener residents regarding Cityservices.The survey was conducted between
November 30Interviews were completed with both landline and cell phone sample.A total of 601 interviews were completed, with quotas set by gender and region.The final results are weighted
to reflect the demographic composition ofKitchener according to the most recent Census (2016).The margin of error for a sample of 601 is +/- 4.0 percentage points (at the95% confidence
level).
Introduction & Methodology
1 - 8
3
55+
31%
*8% refused
54
*2% refused
-
35
32%*4% refused
YesNo
34
-
18
29%
AGE DISTRIBUTION
VISIBLE MINORITY 16% 80%
HS or LessSome post-secondaryCollege diploma/certificateUndergraduate degreeGraduate/professional degree
EDUCATION 23% 16% 21% 19% 19%
CITY OF KITCHENER | 2017 CUSTOMER SERVICE SURVEY |
YesNo
CHILDREN AT HOME 35% 65%
Weighted Profile
31%
(Northeast):
Wards 1, 2, 10
35%
6 (South):
Wards 3, 4, 5,
34%
AREA
(Northwest):
Wards 7, 8, 9
Profile of Respondents
1 - 9
4
CITY OF KITCHENER | 2017 CUSTOMER SERVICE SURVEY |
Satisfaction and Perceptions of Service Delivery
1 - 10
5
2*
91%85%85%
Top-
centre
CITY OF KITCHENER | 2017 CUSTOMER SERVICE SURVEY |
-5.
Q3*Top-2 includes those who are very/somewhat satisfied **Caution: Small Base
Satisfaction with Selected Channels high, with more than eight in ten residents expressing satisfaction.
1 - 11
6
2**
rall
ove
Top-88%98%87%94%93%93%84%88%95%86%
3%
4%
1%
6%
6%
2%
4%
9%
13%
9%
14%
16%
(Unsure)
30%
34%
35%
36%
25%
31%
45%
33%
28%
43%
68%
62%
60%
58%
57%
56%
56%
CITY OF KITCHENER | 2017 CUSTOMER SERVICE SURVEY |
54%
49%
43%
Very/somewhat dissatisfied
Somewhat satisfied
Overall satisfaction
Building permit (n=20)*
Paid parking ticket (n=80)*
Property/noise complaint (n=50)*
Recreation program/camp (n=122)
Very satisfied
Visited/contacted rec facility (n=266)
Reported graffiti/pothole/litter (n=56)*
Purchased vehicle/bike parking (n=60)*
KU account setup/maintenance (n=106)
Paid tax/utility bill - via city channels (n=161)
Thinking about this most recent time that you received services from the City of Kitchener, how satisfied were you with your
Q8. service experience? (Base: Those who have accessed a program or service in the past year, n=535)*Caution: Small Base *Top-2 includes those who are very or somewhat satisfied
Satisfaction With Services More than one half of Kitchener residents are very satisfied with the service they received, with high scores across service areas.
1 - 12
7
a
2*
Top-88%83%90%83%84%79%84%82%85%
CITY OF KITCHENER | 2017 CUSTOMER SERVICE SURVEY |
Please indicate if you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree or strongly disagree? (Base: Those who have accessed
Q9. program or service in the past year, n=535)*Top-2 includes those who strongly or somewhat agree
Assessment of Service Experience Kitchener residents who received services are most likely to strongly agree that City staff were polite and treated them fairly.
1 - 13
8 8
Beta
satisfaction
Key driver of
CITY OF KITCHENER | 2017 CUSTOMER SERVICE SURVEY |
*Total model R2 score of .456 with overall significance at the 95% level of confidence.
Strength of driver
Drivers of Satisfaction predominant driver of satisfaction.
1 - 14
9
CITY OF KITCHENER | 2017 CUSTOMER SERVICE SURVEY |
Program/Service Usage
1 - 15
10
someone
or
CITY OF KITCHENER | 2017 CUSTOMER SERVICE SURVEY |
I am going to read you a list of programs and services provided by the City of Kitchener. For each one, please tell me if you
*More than eight in ten Kitchener residents (83%) have paid a property tax or utility bill in the past 12 months. Of these, 32% have used City-related channels (cashier, drop box, pre-authorized
payment plan) to pay the bill. Based on this, approximately one quarter of all Kitchener adults (27%) have interacted directly with the City when paying a property tax or utility bill.
Q1. in your household has accessed this program or service within the past year?
Past Year Program/Service Usage Nearly one half of Kitchener residents (49%) have visited or
1 - 16
11
Via financial institution (FI): 62%
Via City-related channel: 32%
CITY OF KITCHENER | 2017 CUSTOMER SERVICE SURVEY |
What method did you use to pay your property tax or utility bill? (Base: Those who paid their tax/utility bill, n=497)
Q2a.
Methods Used To Pay Property/Utility Tax Bill Six in ten Kitchener residents pay property tax and utility bills via their financial institution.
1 - 17
12
(n=20)*
Applied for Building Permit
Paid parking ticket (n=81)*
Primarily Via City Website
CITY OF KITCHENER | 2017 CUSTOMER SERVICE SURVEY |
Which of the following methods did you use when you ________ ?
Registered for rec
program/camp (n=123)
Q2(1-9).
Channels Used to Access Service Residents are most likely to register for recreation programs and camps via the City of Kitchener website.
1 - 18
13
centre to
Reported problem (graffiti,
Primarily Via Telephone
CITY OF KITCHENER | 2017 CUSTOMER SERVICE SURVEY |
Accessed services from
Kitchener Utilities (n=109)
Which of the following methods did you use when you ________ ?
complaint (n=54)*
Made property / noise
Q2(1-9). *Caution: Small Base
Channels Used to Access Service report problems and make property/noise complaints.
1 - 19
14
(n=9)*
(n=271)
Primarily In Person
Applied for marriage/business license
Visited/contacted rec facility
CITY OF KITCHENER | 2017 CUSTOMER SERVICE SURVEY |
Which of the following methods did you use when you ________ ?
(n=61)*
Purchased parking
Q2(1-9). *Caution: Small Base
Channels Used to Access Service Kitchener residents are most likely to purchase parking, apply for licenses and visit recreation facilities in person.
1 - 20
15
u or someone in
yo
9%
(Unsure)
28%
City website
CITY OF KITCHENER | 2017 CUSTOMER SERVICE SURVEY |
17%
directly
Contacted
department/facility
27%
they use to access services.
Total telephone:
10%
For the majority of residents, in-
person and telephone are the methods
Contact centre
42%
In-Person
Q1. I am going to read you a list of programs and services provided by the City of Kitchener. For each one, please tell me if your household has accessed this program or service within
the past year?
Total Channel Usage Four in ten have accessed services in person, with more than one quarter using the City website.
1 - 21
16
the
in
Higher among those 18-34 (35%) Higher among those 55+ (11%)
CITY OF KITCHENER | 2017 CUSTOMER SERVICE SURVEY |
Why have you not accessed services through the City of Kitchener website? (Base: Those who have accessed a program or service
Q6. *Mentioned by fewer than 2% of respondents
Reason For Not Using City Website Those not accessing services via the City website are most likely to say this is because they prefer to deal with a person.
1 - 22
17
CITY OF KITCHENER | 2017 CUSTOMER SERVICE SURVEY |
Conclusions/ Recommendations
1 - 23
18
and retain
CITY OF KITCHENER | 2017 CUSTOMER SERVICE SURVEY |
This is the main opportunity to improve satisfaction scores.
Service delivery must balance the needs of different groups Ontario municipalities. services.
Conclusions and Recommendations
1 - 24
19
CITY OF KITCHENER | 2017 CUSTOMER SERVICE SURVEY |
2747
Curtis Brown Senior Research Associate (416) 969-Curtis.Brown@environics.ca
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION OR QUESTIONS CONTACT:
1 - 25