More than 7,800 Evanston residents rang the city’s new 311 service in March for what assistant to the city manager Joe McRae described as a “very successful launch,” according to the call center’s first monthly report issued Monday.
He said the consolidated phone directory has emerged as a stable asset for everything from notifying city officials of broken parking meters to unfilled potholes.
“It’s all residents wanting city service,” he said. “The success of the system is that it’s giving residents access to those services.”
Of that monthly total, 311 responders handled 954 service requests, more than half of which were relayed to the public works department. Community info coordinator Eric Palmer estimated the majority of those inquiries involved garbage and recycle pick-ups, which topped the list of the five most common service requests for the first week of April.
That weekly update – posted to the City of Evanston’s website Friday – logged 2,520 total calls handled and 356 service requests fulfilled from April 1 to April 7.. More than 100 of those total service requests dealt with trash and recycling retrieval.
Regardless of the ballooning call statistics, Palmer said the 311 system, first activated at 7 a.m. on March 1, has proven a reliable tool for city-resident communication.
“It has actually been very smooth,” he added. “I’m very impressed. It’s been a good thing. It’s about efficiency and service.”
The only hiccup has been isolated cases of regular callers – many of whom have memorized 10-digit City Hall numbers for years – hanging up out of exasperation at the new directory process, Palmer added.
Still, he downplayed the frequency of frustrated residents abandoning their original inquiries.
“It’s not a big issue at all,” Palmer said. “It’s just a learning curve. Most people know what’s going on.”
But some Orrington Avenue neighbors said they have not heard of the month-old hotline when asked about it Tuesday afternoon. One area resident, Alisa Kaplan, admitted she was vaguely aware of the initiative because of promotional signs in downtown Evanston.
Otherwise, Kaplan said she appreciated the city’s outreach efforts based off similar ventures she had used in Chicago and New York.
“I always think 311 is a great idea,” she added. “I’m very supportive.”
McRae said he plans to “keep on messaging” to promote the free service. Previous publicity efforts have included printing 311 reminders on residents’ water bills and coordinating media exposure during the hotline’s March launch.
