Town adopts new customer service strategy and policy

Amherstburg Municipal Building

The Town of Amherstburg has adopted a new customer service policy.

Deputy clerk Sarah Sabihuddin presented the new strategy to town council at the July 14 meeting, noting it is a plan that has been in development for approximately one year. It stemmed from town council’s adoption of the new Strategic Plan.

Sabihuddin said administration initiated the development of a corporate customer service strategy and set out to develop a comprehensive plan. She is the lead on the project, she told council members, noting she kept in regular contact with CAO Valerie Critchley on the project, reached out to similar sized peer municipalities, spoke to 63 staff members internally on the matter and there was also a public survey.

“Since the time customer service action plan was developed, one of the key parts was a centralized area of the corporation to focus on customer service.

This was something that was important to our internal employees as well as the public,” said Sabihuddin. “We came up with the idea and the concept for Service Amherstburg.”

Future steps could include customer service training and development. She stated the next phase the town is launching is to conduct that training with part of that being on the policies and procedures town council adopted at that same meeting. Service Amherstburg will be launching internal and external webpages, standardize auto replies and templates, and use customer service analytics to proactively make decisions and recommendations to council.

Sabihuddin added customer service technology enhancements could be reviewed. 

“Our customer service commitment is that the Corporation of the Town of Amherstburg is dedicated to providing consistent, respectful, and responsive customer service across all municipal interactions. We commit to fostering a welcoming community through clear communication, timely service, and continuous improvement, ensuring all residents, business and visitors feel valued and supported,” she stated.

Customer service standards would include if a staff member were absent for one business day, setting out-of-office messages with return dates and back-up contact, and two business days for responses from website form inquiries, e-mail acknowledgement and voicemails.

There is also a “response time rule” where if a resolution to an inquiry isn’t possible in a two-day period, an acknowledgement will be provided with timelines. There is also a five-day rule to respond to written correspondence.

“Over the past decade, customer service expectations have drastically evolved, with the increasing demand for seamless, round-the-clock support,” said Sabihuddin. 

Sabihuddin added: “Service Amherstburg is a customer service initiative aimed at creating a consistent, professional and accessible experience for residents, businesses and visitors when interacting with the town.” She said it will involve an interdisciplinary team that will work at delivering customer service with a goal to foster trust and confidence in municipal services, reduce inconsistencies, improve response times, support staff to handle “diverse” situations and to improve internal communications.

Two delegates spoke in relation to the report from Sabihuddin. Bill Petruniak called it a “brilliant document.”

“It covers everything that a retailer or a customer service organization should do and how they should do it. Hopefully this plan will be implemented, not just for staff, but for council members too,” said Petruniak. “I think it would be great if all the councillors would at least acknowledge receiving e-mails. It might give the impression they actually read them.”

Petruniak said the character of an organization is shaped from the top down. He added communication and transparency within an organization and the people the organization services is vital.

“In the absence of transparency, you have rumours, speculation and conspiracy theories,” said Petruniak. “Just look at our slow-motion fire hall build, Belle Vue and Duffy’s. When there are not clear directives and consistent implementation from senior management, confusion and a toxic workplace are the result. My hope is that the relationship between council, administration and the public they serve can be dramatically improved.”

Petruniak said people feel afraid to ask questions of staff or councillors for fear of reprisal.

“They don’t trust you guys,” he said during the council meeting.

Trust and respect must be earned, Petruniak added, stating he has been ignored in the past or told “nothing is happening” when he requested information.

“Instead of stonewalling, how about the proper answer every time?” he said, suggesting that staff advise that they will get back to residents if they don’t know the answer right away.

The customer service policy should improve things, he said, stating if people don’t trust council and administration, residents won’t turn to them and ask question. He then went over a list of council members and the frequency they answer e-mails.

“Believe me, I send a lot of e-mails,” he said. “All you have to do is acknowledge them. I think I’ve had some pretty good ideas. If you don’t read them, you don’t know.”

Phil Kasurak was the second delegate to speak on the topic and said he was glad to see the steps the town wants to put in place. He said customer service goes beyond answering a phone or replying to an e-mail.

“True customer service listens to the customer and provides direct responses to the needs and concerns,” said Kasurak.

Kasurak recalled listening to Eugene Whelan, the former Anderdon Township reeve, MP, Minister of Agriculture and senator, and that Whelan said his meetings as reeve were like “a fireside chat.” 

“Some might say that harkens to a simpler time and I might tend to agree somewhat,” said Kasurak, “but I had read that someone, councillors perhaps, suggested having a designated town hall meeting where people could do exactly that.”

Kasurak said he was disappointed that administration didn’t like the idea of a town hall meeting due to safety and security meetings. He said he sees few instances of a guard or police officer being needed.

Narratives at council meetings are “highly controlled by the levels of insulation,” he believed. Kasurak did take positives from a debate earlier in the meeting on the project at 130 Sandwich St. S., noting the amendment on the motion regarding negotiating areas of concern in the site plan showed “somebody heard what we were saying and were listening.” 

There were opposite experiences, Kasurak said, with regards to other matters about a Laird Ave. property. He said council stepped in and voted to deny the application.

There is a perception residents are not being heard and are having their concerns “pushed away,” he said.

Concerns over harassment and abuse are “a real thing,” he added. 

Kasurak said staff needs de-escalation training but noted community activism is not easy as a key point of democracy and sometimes people could get animated if they oppose an issue.

Councillor Diane Pouget said she hears complaints “all the time that we’re not listening and that we’re disrespectful” Pouget said the town should be doing much better in relating to residents. 

Pouget said the Town of Tecumseh included town council in its customer service policy, while Sabihuddin said Tecumseh has a customer service manager. Sabihuddin added “because we are building this out from the ground up, this was intended to be a general overview for staff and recommended for council as well.”

Councillor Linden Crain said it was an “excellent report” from Sabihuddin and that the town “is in the customer service business.” Crain added town council receives a lot of e-mails from residents, adding that he views respect as a two-way street. He said he won’t tolerate abuse whether it is written or verbal and won’t respond to an e-mail if it is abusive.

“I don’t expect staff to be on the phone or in-person dealing with situations like that. It can definitely be a threat to safety,” said Crain.

Deputy Mayor Chris Gibb said the policy and strategy is a great start. He said to have one place to direct residents so they can be re-routed to the proper direction is the correct way to deal with questions and concerns.

Town adopts new customer service strategy and policy

By Ron Giofu