City council demands better customer service at City Hall

Bradenton City Council members have had enough when it comes to fielding constituent phone calls regarding questions for which they have no answer. Officials want the flow of communication from city staff to the council to improve, as well as communication to the public.

The city does not have any social media outlets such as a Facebook page or Twitter account but looks to create those outlets, as well as a long overdue upgrade to the city website to improve information flow. But the flow starts within city hall.

Carl Callahan, city administrator and economic development director, said from staff’s perspective, communication to the public must improve.

“Particularly with the first point of contact with residents,” Callahan said. “We are not at a level we should or want to be. We are talking about how to get better with training employees and computer service enhancements, but are focused on the need for proactive communications back to the public. It’s great that they come in and we respond to them, but they walk away and we forget about them. That’s when we start getting unhappy customers.”

The city retains a public information officer in Tim McCann, who said he really doesn’t play a role in internal communications unless asked. His primary responsibility is disseminating information to the public and acknowledges his avenues are currently limited to the city’s outdated website, press releases to the media and the city’s weekly newsletter.

Ward 1 Councilman Gene Gallo, with support of the council, also will require every department head to attend the city council workshops. Gallo said it was why the workshops were first started and the city has simply moved away from doing it over the years. Gallo wants department heads to provide full reports to the council so elected officials are aware of every potential issue and can respond to constituents appropriately.

“I’m basically asking to be kept in the loop,” Gallo said. “Keep us informed. We need more direct involvement with the department heads. We allegedly run the city, but we can’t run the city without knowing what’s going on. I’m tired and embarrassed of getting questions and saying I don’t know, but I’ll find out.”

Councilman Gene Brown has experienced the same issues. Brown noted that once he makes a phone call to see why a permit is taking so long or to address any number of issues, “I make a call and all of a sudden it gets done. I want to know what’s going on before I get the call. I think it’s one department just not communicating with the other.”

There will be some costs associated with operating social media in a knowledgeable manner and good government websites can be costly. Callahan said the city has learned through focus groups on what the public wants for various projects.

“Nobody has ever said be cheap or frugal. They want efficient and cool,” Callahan said. “Obviously, least expensive to get what you want, isn’t just least expensive, but the right amount of money to get the right product.”

Ward 3 Councilman Patrick Roff said the message needs to be clear.

“We are a strong council form of government and that message hasn’t really gotten out there to the community or even the employees sometimes,” he said. “This is a really good move. We are creating a modern government. We are responsible for the department heads. When something goes wrong, we are the first person a citizen calls. It’s frustrating when we don’t know about something only to find out someone did know about for some time.”

This story was originally published November 30, 2017 at 1:50 PM with the headline "City council demands better customer service at City Hall."