Constituent Services
Transition Policy Committee Summary of Findings
Committee Name
Constituent Services
Committee Members
Bob McWatters, Austin Faison, Steven Craig
Key themes and trends:
Effective constituent services depend on coordinated systems, shared data, and proactive engagement where residents already are. Strengthening and expanding tools like 311 and adopting unified technology can improve responsiveness, transparency, and trust in City services.
Existing initiatives:
Somerville’s 311 program serves as a key touchpoint between residents and the City.
Gaps:
Today, different departments manage service requests, workflows, and communicate in different ways. This creates delays, data silos, and uneven service experiences.
Opportunities:
The city should consider consolidating software across departments.
Expanding 311’s role and function with certain departments/divisions would allow the City to deliver a more responsive, coordinated, and resident-centered service model. We could also explore a mobile 311 option that has been successfully launched in other parts of the country, where 311 is going out into the community to reach people where they already are. This could improve our “One Call to City Hall” model, reducing confusion for residents and internal administrative burdens for departments. It also gives City leadership a clearer line of sight into service performance and emerging issues.
A modern, unified Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform would be one of the most transformative tool-based investments in customer service and internal operations the City could make. Having one system across many departments for all service requests creates transparency and reduces duplication. It can help to create more consistent service standards across departments through shared workflows, SLAs, and performance tracking, as well as setting up departments to more easily hand off, monitor, and collaborate on issues.
For the past two years, the city has been working on a Municipal Voice of Customer (MVoC) program within Constituent Services, but there is a lot of room for growth. By having clear expectations related to how accurately, professionally, and easily departments respond to requests and other customer/constituent-focused issues, we can create more predictable, transparent service delivery across the organization and give customers a consistent experience regardless of where they enter the system, or what they need.
Recommendations for action:
Review data on 311 calls daily and follow through with a visit to the constituents’ residence to ascertain if the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
Meet residents citywide biweekly in coffee shops to discuss issues affecting their neighborhood and ward.
Be active in the community. For example, attend high school sporting events, and/or plays.
Consider riding along with plow drivers during a snow storm.
There should be more follow up when 311 deals with different matters. 311 should follow up instead of leaving it to the department to figure it out.
Residents often interact with City staff when they face moments of urgency or frustration. Providing staff with standardized, high-quality training ensures these interactions are handled consistently and effectively. Employee development training is an ongoing effort that never really stops. Equipping all employees with active listening, empathy, communication, and de-escalation skills benefits everyone in the long run and reinforces a shared commitment to constituent/customer experience as a core value of the City.
