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Memphis Mayor Wharton unveils 311 call center to track citizen complaints, requestsJan 16, 2013 (The Commercial Appeal - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- (Editor's note: The new 311 call center will be housed on the fourth floor of City Hall. An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect location.) Fulfilling a promise to make Memphis government more "customer friendly", Memphis Mayor A C Wharton unveiled Wednesday the city's new 311 call center and a revamped city website. During a morning event in the Hall of Mayors at City Hall, Wharton said the 311 phone and computer system can operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to track citizen complaints and requests until resolution. All calls made to 311 will be logged into a computer system, which will track each request from the first notice of the problem to its resolution. Wharton has said the new 311 system will allow the city to track complaints to determine which divisions are doing their jobs well, where the public gets the best return on its investment in tax dollars, and how to hold city managers accountable for performance. The operation will be housed on the fourth floor of City Hall. The first phase will include three city divisions: the mayor's service center, public works and community enhancement. The remaining divisions could be added piecemeal or all at once; that decision hasn't been made yet. "We're focusing on what efficiencies it will bring to our way of operating, both internally and externally," said Wharton in a previous interview "Is it taking this division too long to answer weed-cutting complaints Is it taking this division too long to get asphalt into potholes The numbers won't lie." Memphis becomes the sixth Tennessee city -- and the last of its four largest -- to set up 311 service. The Tennessee Regulatory Authority says Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Dyersburg and Mt. Juliet already have the service ___ (c)2013 The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tenn.) Visit The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tenn.) at www.commercialappeal.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |