A new Council initiative that combines old fashioned face to face contact with leading technology has added a new dimension to Randwick City Council’s community liaison. Important relationships established with local shopping centres and members of the public demonstrate the success of the program after just six months.
In a proactive approach in catering for community requests, a public place management program was introduced in December 2005 creating three Public Place Officers. Equipped with state of the art wireless notebooks, the Public Place Officers have become a familiar sight on the streets of the City.
As well as regularly monitoring Council sites such as roads, parks, playgrounds, footpaths and street furniture, they are on hand to answer queries from the public. Wherever they are in the field, their wireless notebooks give them access to all of Council’s software applications. They can log customer requests, instantly check the conditions of development applications and approvals, access land and property information, or send digital photos of a site direct to other Council officers.
The Public Place Officers are not just ambassadors for Council – they are also an immediate ‘fix it’ person, removing illegally dumped rubbish and fixing minor issues on the spot. The benefits to the community are very visible, with noticeable improvements in the quality, safety and attractiveness of Council’s public places.
One of the most pleasing aspects of the Public Place Officers is that now Council, in most instances, has the work request, such as a pot hole repair, dumped rubbish or graffiti, logged and programmed for action before it receives a phone call from residents. Call Centre staff provide feedback to residents that a work request has already been logged for action by Council staff. This has resulted in a significant improvement in customer satisfaction by residents on the job Council is doing.
