Winnipeg mayoral candidate pledges overhaul of ‘screwed up’ 311 service

Winnipeg mayoral candidate Jenny Motkaluk said if she’s elected mayor, she would dramatically change the city’s 311 service to put residents calling for service requests directly in touch with staff in city departments.

Motkaluk announced the promise at her St. James campaign office Tuesday morning.

In August 2018, Winnipeg’s 311 line received 64,666 calls. About half of the calls were for service requests and the other half were for information.

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Currently, customer service representatives answer 311 calls, and in the case of service requests, they give the caller a reference number and forward the ticket to the relevant department.

“The objective is to move it to a situation where a customer, a citizen of the city of Winnipeg, can be directed to the appropriate department, so that their concern can be heard by someone who can actually do two things,” Motkaluk said. “One, determine the level of priority of that call, and two, put something into action as soon as possible.”

She said her plans would help fix long wait times to get through to 311, claiming the average wait time is 30 to 40 minutes.

“I’m basing that on conversations that I’ve had with lots of Winnipeggers for lots of years,” she said.

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A city spokesperson said data from 2017 shows the average wait time is actually far lower — just over three minutes.

Motkaluk claims the changes would be “revenue neutral,” saying she wouldn’t allot any funds to the changes nor add any additional staff to help with the transition.

“This isn’t about putting more resources into the system,” she said. “It’s not about dumping more money in, it’s about using the resources that we have to do a better job right now.”

But while Motkaluk has consulted on many of her other campaign promises, she did not speak to city staff or any unions about the feasibility of accomplishing the changes she has in mind for 311.

“They will either be able to answer the calls or they won’t be, but I’m not going to know that until we try it out,” she said.