A couple weeks ago I had a few people call me regarding lighting in Barry Square. One business owner claimed he had had called 311 repeatedly for weeks and the issue had not been resolved. Another resident also claimed to have been calling 311 numerous times to no avail.
I still think 311 is a huge waste of the taxpayers money and I have yet to hear anyone sing the praises of 311. I constantly hear from people that claim they call and call and call with nothing being done. I still firmly believe that 311 was created by the Perez Administration as a data mining operation and used more for political purposes than a service to residents.
I called the Department of Public Works and spoke to Rhonda Carroll regarding the lighting issue and asked if she could look into it. She assured me that she would and actually called back the next day and told me that the bulbs that the people had thought were burned out had been replaced. The day they went out was two Thursday's ago and was a day that we had extremely heavy rain. I was a little surprised that they would be out in that kind of weather, but I was pleasantly surprised at their prompt response.
Rhonda Carroll also told me that replacing the bulbs didn't correct the problem and it appeared to be a wiring issue. She informed me that they had requested the blueprints for the project to trace out the wiring and they were working to correct the problem.
A few days later I received a voice mail from Rhonda Carroll that I should save to show people how business should be done in Hartford. She left a message that said "Mr. Brookman, this is Rhonda Carroll from Public Works for the City of Hartford. We Have found the wiring problem and the issue has been corrected. Please let me know if there is anything else I can help you with.".
I was happy and the people who complained to me were thrilled that someone had actually taken action and the issue was resolved. That's not common in Hartford government.
She probably regrets that she asked me to let her know if there was anything else she could help me with. The next request from a resident came a few short days later. A resident complained to me about a dead tree on City property in front of their home. The resident had called 311 and the City repeatedly with little response or results. They felt the tree was in danger of falling and causing injury or damage to vehicles parked on the street.
I was impressed with Rhonda Carroll's response the previous week so I called her again last Wednesday about the tree. She took the information down, called me the next day to verify the address. I spoke to the homeowner today and he was very happy that the tree had been cut down Monday and the problem was addressed. Even though he had tried for a while to get it done, he was impressed with the quick response from Rhonda and the DPW. Three days from the call to problem solved.
Rhonda Carroll is not only a City of Hartford employee, but she is also a City of Hartford resident. I'm not sure what makes her so responsive, but just maybe she gets it and realizes that residents of the City deserve a timely, prompt and most importantly a polite and courteous response. These are her neighbors she is helping, the same neighbors she meets on the street, in the grocery store and at city restaurants.
Maybe we should disband 311 and find a few more Rhonda Carroll's.
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11 comments:
Kudos to Rhonda Carroll. It's surprisingly refreshing to know that there are still people who believe in good customer service. Thanks for letting us know!
Is Eddie still the mayor on the public works home page?
Kevin, yes Rhonda is one of many good city employees. But, are you not also close personal friends with her and her husband? Just saying...
I don't know about 311. I certainly haven't detected any improvement in service for which it may be responsible. Also, impressed that you were able to get these matters attended to without going through a NRZ.
Frankly, while my dealings with the Muni guys have not been extensive, I've never, or rarely, thought I was really badly served. (There was that time I ended up in handcuffs on Capitol Ave. in the wee hours because the cops thought I shouldn't complain about their failure to deal with a mini-riot in my back alley. But, I probably shouldn't have told the cop, an East Hartford resident, to "shut up" even though he had previously instructed me to. ) Please note; I don't count the schools as part of the Municipal govt.
Public Works always have had employees that responded to complaints the same way that Rhonda Carroll did but the City of Hartford decided to get rid of them either by layoffs or forced retirements. It was a great way to give birth to 311. I have only heard 2 people think that 311 is doing a great job and they were beholden to Eddie Perez.
Rhonda Carroll is a gem.
Since I pay taxes for both residential and commercial dwellings, I want the City Services that I pay for, Rhonda is quite helpful.
I have used 311 4 times and have had good responses. Maybe you could do something different and actually check the facts before you criticize? The city must have some statistics on 311 calls that you could review.
I feel bad for Rhonda. Last year she and the other Senior Project Managers throughout the various city departments were told that their positions would be eliminated from the budget unless their union agreed to concessions. That's gotta be stressful. Additionally, some years ago Rhonda was laid off from the city (when Sandra Kee Borges was City Manager) after Rhonda hooked up with Sandra's ex-husband. Not saying there was a cause/effect here, but Rhonda gotta be stressin' again. Despite this, she continues to deliver exemplary services to the city AND juggle her role as union president. You go girl!!!
she continues to deliver exemplary services to the city AND juggle her role as union president. You go girl!!!
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Couldn't agree more, although I have no direct experience of her services.
People dont seem to understand, once residents call 311, they refer complaint over to appropriate department. It is not the 311 representative that goes out to take care of the issue. It really upsets me that because the departments are not doing their job the 311 call center is being blamed. Definatley get your facts straight before you start pointing fingers!!!!
311 is definitely a waste of the taxpayers money.It was created by Susan McMullen-Perez Administration of course for political purposes.311 is now part of the "Office of Management & Budget",even though timecards are submitted to the Mayor's Office???The new 311 manager Rick Galarza don't give a damn about 311.The proof? all the harrassment,intimidation and verbal abuse that the ex-supervisor took from a current 311 employee,all incidents reported to Mr Galarza, in return what Mr Galarza did?NOTHING,just ignored and ridiculed the ex-supervisor by removing her from her position.In the meantime, Mr Galarza hired a temp employee (ex-secretary of Mayor Perez)paying her $45,000/year,not bad for a woman with no education but a High School diploma.The only black employee at 311 being harassed by everyone in that department,all incidents reported to Mr Galarza.What did he do?make the poor black guy cry like a baby & still taking the harassment.Jackie Baker (black female) tried to help the guy and what happenned? removed from her position,currently nothing to do with 311.One hispanic female that got in 311 just for knowing the supervisor (deja vu?!?!).Another hispanic female that's related to the current temp supervisor (deja vu?!?!).3 part timers that were promised full time jobs and now the hours were cut from 35 to 10???And the next day the only white person at 311(ex-Mayor Perez's employee)was hired as a temp working 40 hours a day that were later cut to 35 to make it look fair,do any of this make any sense? it doesn't, but is the reality at 311.Of course,everyone complained to Human Relations and other people but still no action on their part.Perhaps Mr Galarza is too busy to handle 311 or perhaps he doesn't have any say so to "fire anyone"?The Office of Management and Budget recently received an award,so I'm sure they work really hard,same for 311 I'm pretty sure they work hard,but is a job that each department can do it on their own,if someone/anyone answers the fricking phone.
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