MOOSE JAW — The City of Moose Jaw’s request-for-service app has “a lot of good value” in meeting residents’ needs, but one city councillor thinks city hall could do more to enhance customer service overall.
During city council’s recent regular meeting, Coun. Patrick Boyle moved that administration create a resident-first, client services strategy that outlines, but is not limited to, how residents’ inquiries are handled, tracked, measured and responded to; the level of service and response times for permits, approvals, programs and services; and creating a resident-focused culture and improving service delivery.
He also moved that administration include information about potential resource requirements for capital and operating projects with implementing this strategy.
Council has been discussing customer service since it was elected in November, while it approved a new chief of staff position at budget to support this endeavour, Boyle said. Creating this type of strategy stretches back to around 2017 when he was last on council, when a similar motion was defeated.
“This is resurrecting the same idea … (in a) purposeful way to articulate this for the residents that … it’s residents-first,” he stated.
City hall may be doing all this already and may be resident-focused, but this motion directs administration to publish the data as part of a larger strategy so residents know what service level times are for activities like acquiring a deck permit or learning how long it takes to construct a garage, he continued.
Boyle noted that since being elected in 2024, administration has told council how great the request-for-service app is and how it tracks everything well. He acknowledged that the app has “a lot of good value,” but thought it needed to be combined with a strategy that better serves residents.
The councillor noted that the app may require upgrades considering Coun. Dawn Luhning said recently that her request ticket for snow removal was only closed the first week of May.
“… we’re really just putting this out in the public eye and saying that council is interested in this and we want to see something implemented going forward,” Boyle added.
Luhning chuckled when describing her experience of receiving a closed notification ticket about the city using a grader to remove snow. She thought that was “interesting” and planned to forward the ticket to the city manager.
Meanwhile, she thought there were “a lot of changes” the city should make to the app to enhance its responsiveness, including potentially eliminating it and using something new. Moreover, she thought council and administration should discuss this customer service topic further since she wanted that service level to increase during the next three-and-a-half years.
“I like what the intent (of this motion) is. And I do think we need to do better for our citizens with the way … they’re responded back (by the city about their concerns),” Luhning added.
City manager Maryse Carmichael said addressing customer service will be the No. 1 project she gives the new chief of staff when that person is hired. Directors already work hard on this area and “always think of residents first” when planning projects.
“The request for service (app) is not perfect, absolutely not,” she stated. “There are some issues we need to work on, absolutely.”
Continuing, the city manager praised the City of Prince Albert for a customer service project it pursued, since it worked well and helped the municipality centralize services. She also lauded City of Moose Jaw employees for their daily efforts and for doing their best with a tight budget this year.
Coun. Chris Warren liked the motion since he thought it aligned with council’s efforts to implement key priority indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of initiatives. He was excited to receive a report from administration later this year about incorporating KPIs into everything the city did.
Warren then moved an amendment saying that administration should report the results of its efforts to enhance customer service levels with council and residents.
Council approved the amendment, while it also approved Boyle’s overall motion.
