If Atlanta residents want to vent about abandoned cars, dead animals in the street or dumped tires — or just to ask about library hours — they eventually won't have to sift through the roughly 250 phone numbers listed on the city's websites.
The city hopes to open a "311" call center in December 2013 to free up its 911 system for actual emergencies. By bringing together dozens of staffers who field calls from residents, the goal is to allow citizens to get all city services with just two numbers.
"If you have a burning building, call 911," said Kristin Canavan Wilson, a former LexisNexis executive who now leads the city's Innovation Delivery Team. "If you have a burning question, call 311."
Leaders hope the new system will save money in efficiencies. But setting up and running it won't be cheap. Atlanta's $542 million budget for fiscal year 2013 includes about $4 million in various technology upgrades, some of which include the 311 project. It is unclear how much the city will spend annually to operate it.
By way of comparison, San Antonio's 311 center has a $1.5 million annual budget.
Atlanta plans to use the next year and a half for planning, training and technology upgrades to make way for the call center, which should eventually be able to field calls from land lines and cell phones from inside and outside the city.
Between 80 and 100 staffers may be pulled from city departments to man the 311 center, possibly for several shifts. That's roughly the number of people who work in Atlanta's information technology department.
City officials say a centralized informational number could help redirect the massive flow of questions that come into various city departments — as many as 2 million calls, emails and walk-ins annually. Many of those contacts are duplications: multiple staffers handling calls that go to the wrong departments. And about a third of 911 calls are not emergencies, according to the city's estimates.
"People talk about the costs to set up these systems, but the fact is, those calls are coming into local government anyway," said Cory Fleming, senior project manager at the International City/County Management Association. "Handling all these duplicate calls takes a lot more staff time."
The 311 system that Atlanta is envisioning is relatively rare in Georgia.
Savannah, Albany, College Park, Decatur, Rockdale County, DeKalb County, Columbia County, Dawson County, the city of Columbus and the state itself were the only Georgia jurisdictions to tell the ICMA that they had 311 or "customer relationship management" systems, which are designed to keep consolidated records of residents' requests. Some use a seven-digit number rather than 311 or are online-only systems.
The tech-heavy initiatives don't always pan out, and millions can go down the drain in the process.
DeKalb County once had a 311 center with a $4.4 million annual budget and about 60 staffers, but its budget was slashed as the economy soured in 2009. About 44 positions were eliminated and the call center was folded into another department.
Philadelphia's 311 center fields 4.5 million calls annually. But Philadelphia Controller Alan Butkovitz blasted the system last October, calling it a "glorified answering service" that costs taxpayers $6 million a year. He also said the call center has not significantly reduced 911 calls.
Still, the spread of 311 centers has been rapid. About 280 cities and counties including Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia, Denver and Savannah have set up 311 lines, according to the International City/County Management Association.
In Atlanta, city leaders hope the 311 center is just one of several technological changes will help staffers handle complaints more efficiently. The city may eventually use two "work order" systems instead of the six it uses now, for example. Those systems churn out commands that send crews to repair sidewalks, saw up downed trees and fix busted water meters.
By collecting follow-up responses from residents, the 311 center could also yield data on how fast the city is fixing its potholes and water meters.
"We are going to get to a more consolidated, efficient use of resources," said Duriya Farooqui, the city's chief operating officer. "There is going to be a shift in how we do business."
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