City of Charlotte, NC Neighborhood Tools, 11 Aug 2021

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From YouTube: What’s the 311

Description

CharMeck 311 is your access to city and county services. CharMeck 311 serves as the customer contact center, providing information and services for customers in the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. This training will discuss the many ways CharMeck311 supports residents.

A

So good evening my name is nichelle wilson and I am the neighborhood training and development program manager with the city of charlotte's community engagement division.

A

Thank you all so much for joining us tonight um and tonight we have gathered to learn a little bit more about charmak311, and so we have representatives from sharmak311 that's going to facilitate this training for us tonight, so we're joined by antonio osborne, antoine shofield and matthew summers and they're, going to just share the different type of support that sharmak311 provides to the city of charlotte and as well as mecklenburg county, and so this is an interactive session. We encourage questions.

A

If you want to pop your questions into the q, a field that's located at the bottom of your screen, you can also use the chat feature and we will get to your questions um at the end of the presentation.

A

This is also being recorded, and so um you will have access to this presentation um in about two weeks on our training on demand page. So once again, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it and I will turn over to antonio.

B

Thank you, michelle and thanks to everyone for tuning in this evening, um so tonight we're going to discuss. What's the 3-1-1 okay.

B

3-1-1 is simply the first point of contact for most city and county services.

B

We provide customer service information. You know such as phone numbers addresses or hours of operation say, for instance, you know for courts. um Also, uh residents can call in to have service requests uh completed, uh such as bulky items or reporting potholes or just to name a few.

B

We are open monday through friday, 7 a.m to 7 p.m, and you can also uh submit a service request online 24 hours a day at charlottenc.gov I like to also think of charmaine 301.

B

I don't know how many of you can remember, but uh the blue pages that were in the back of the phone book say I don't know what 20 years ago or more uh so basically, sharmak 311 became the blue pages because back then you would call uh what you would look up and call individual departments to have a service request, uh enter or get billing information.

B

uh So now you can do all of that here through 311, as we are a one-stop shop uh for all of your needs.

B

So how and when 311 was created, so 311 was created approximately 15 years ago on july 5th, 2005, and at that time residents were only able to access services by calling into the contact center.

B

Now we have expanded our services to include self-service options such as access to the city of charlotte website, uh and that is located at charlottenc.gov.

B

Now also, we have three one one live chat, so you can chat with the live agent uh about certain topics. You know, if you have questions um you know, so you can interact with the live agent uh during our hours of operation and also we do have the charlotte plus mobile application that is available on android and ios uh devices and again so 7 a.m through 7 p.m.

B

Monday, through friday, you can get that 311 live support and definitely, if you're out in the in the neighborhood- and you just have something that you want to report and or show um us here at 311, you have the option of taking pictures uh with your phone and submitting those as well, whether it be a complaint or another issue out in the neighborhood that you would like to report.

C

All right and who are our customers, so mecklenburg county has many park and recreation areas in the city that you can get information on. If you wanted to possibly get a park and register for something in that nature, then you have cmpd, which we have not police services and public safety through 3-1-1. You also have the mecklenburg county, sheriff's department, charlotte fire, and all of those.

C

Also, who are some of our customers is solid waste services, so sometimes you may have to call in, as antonio said, you might want to put in a bulky item request or your trash can was missed or you needed to replace the trash. Can you have solid waste services for that, then you have charlotte water that you can call in pretending to.

C

Maybe, if there's a leak at your meter or you want to look over your bill, you also have animal control for those different issues in that nature, mecklenburg county and then you also have storm water services and, most importantly, you.

C

All right so we're going to do a couple of questions here. Can you guess.

C

How many calls has sharmak311 answered since opening in july of 2005.

A

Y'all just want to throw that in the chat. That would be great.

C

C

I have a hundred thousand from allen. The actual answer is: twenty million seven hundred ninety five thousand six hundred and ninety seven. So just a little off alan next question. How many calls has sharmak 311 answered since march 2021 any takers on this one.

C

We got teresa with five thousand.

D

C

Here we go, we got miss miller with 2500, we have jessica brown with 2 million.

C

The actual answer is 296 220 since march 2021.. Now these stats are, as of july, 13 2021.

C

Now another venture we have in collaboration with sharmak3101 is the commonwealth charlotte now carmen will charlotte is an organization that partners with the city of charlotte. This ensures that residents are aware of information.

C

Informational excuse me, resources that are available regarding financial hardships, that a lot of our citizens and people in the greater city of charlotte do to cover 19.. Now what sharmak311 does to assist with this program about the information is with the commonwealth financial navigator, where you're able to help people connect with callers, to express um their hardships and needs for more information and what they can get on those available resources.

C

Now, what char make 301 will do is they will gather the information to submit that information and then they will assist them there.

C

Now another collaboration with charmat311 is the digital navigator. The digital navigator is a program designed to ensure everyone in mecklenburg. County can find and connect with available digital inclusion services and resources. Now what you would do simply how it works. Is you call someone at 311 to connect with the digital navigator? The digital navigator is responding to you to your request and then that digital navigator will work with you to accomplish those goals. As simple as those three steps.

E

Another partnership that we have with the city of charlotte is going to be ramped clt. Now what ramp clt is it's a partnership? That's for people who are experiencing any type of hardships with utilities, rent mortgage and things of that nature now ramp charlotte, is put in place since the beginning of the covet 19 pandemic and has helped a lot of our citizens and residents throughout the city.

E

If you want to get more information and able and want to apply, the application program is open from one of the first of the month through the 15th of each and every month. The website, where you will go to submit your application, is www.ramp.

E

Clt.Com and that's right, charlotte.com, you go there between the 1st and 15th of each month to submit an application and they will help you with meeting your needs.

E

Now, speakersboro, what the speakersburrow is? It's a uh it's! A coalition of 311 employees uh who go out in the community to assist with information like we're doing tonight.

E

We get on the phones or we'll be in person, and we offer you guys insight on what the services are, that we offer any resources that are available to the residents of the city um and county and offer any type of insight that you guys may need or answer any questions that you may have.

E

Now, if you would like to have a 301 speaker, come to one of your, your community events, you will simply go to our website for information. Our city website is charlotte nc dot gov. Once you get onto the website, you can either search for uh need a speaker and the information will come up there. Once you submit your information, uh someone will contact you as soon as possible possible and match somebody to fit your needs to god to guide you through, whatever assistance that you may need.

E

All right, so we do have a little test. Your knowledge uh information that we have this is gonna, be true or false. It's gonna be very tough thought questions, so we need you guys to bring your a-game. The first question is: e-scooters cannot be parked in a manner that blocks sidewalks, curbs or bus stops and e-schoolers are the little moped type of things that you will see.

E

If you go uptown or some and outside of uptown in the areas. um Is that true or false I had one true. I got two truths.

E

Three truths: okay, all right, all right! Okay, all right! uh It's true! It's true! It's true! Yeah! I fold it there's pressure. um When you are finished riding your e-scooter, they should be parked in a location that does not impede the pedestrian walkway um or the bus stops, or anything like that. We always want people to be able to access the sidewalks, whether it's a uh it's a wheelchair ramp or get access to get on and off of our cats bus systems.

E

The next question true or false, is it okay to pour oil and grease into the sink or drain.

E

All right, I got a no. I got a false.

D

Another false another false.

E

So, yes, that answer will be false drain: the excess grease and cook the oil into a can cool it and toss it away. Any leftover oil should be wiped out with a paper towel, and then you can toss that paper towel and then once you get all of that, because what happens is when you pour down the grease or oils and things like that, it actually over time it hardens in your pipes, which could ultimately end up costing you a large amount of money.

E

If a plumber has to come out, dig up your yard or anything like that, because your water isn't flowing properly or uh it isn't draining properly, causing backup and things like that in your home and also too on the city side can cause a world of frustration for other residents as well. um In our last question,.

E

Plastic grocery bags can be recycled.

D

False false, false, false.

E

At the grocery store all right, I think I think allen might have an answer key y'all, but the answer is it is uh it's true and it is false. So this answer was a little tricky, um so they can be taken to grocery stores like publix, harris, teeter, food lion um and things of that nature. However, the city of charlotte does not recycle the uh your plastic bags that you get from the grocery store. In fact, if you have any plastic bags in your grocery, I'm sorry any plastic bags in your recycling bin oftentimes.

E

The recycling crew will not collect it.

E

uh They will leave you a note to let you know that it has been been prepared and uh and properly um so next time, you'll know and they will not come back to collect it, but for the most part, if you do take these grocery bags to your grocery store to dispose of them, um most grocery stores do have a program in place uh where you can just kind of throw them away on the outside of the store and then they will dispose and discard of them in a way.

E

That's uh best fits for our for earth and all of the going green things that we have going on.

E

All right, so we definitely want to thank everybody for their time um and for attending. uh What's the 3-1-1, if you guys have any questions or comments, we're here to answer them for you.

A

All right, so our first question that we have is what our digital inclusion services um and elizabeth stated that she didn't understand. That particular program.

C

Yeah, so I can go into a little bit more about that for you, elizabeth, so um first, the digital navigator program was actually created by digital charlotte. It was a initiative of night school communications at queen's university of charlotte. So what the digital navigator is for is to help you in the community or community mimicking members to navigate through and like sign up for, affordable home brand or home broadband. Excuse me: internet services, purchasing, affordable technology like basic devices and connectivity issues or just learning a new digital skill.

C

So it's basically accessing helping you access, like also knowing, where is the free internet within the city? Where is the public wi-fi within the city? Things of that nature? Does that uh answer your question for you, elizabeth.

A

And you guys, um if you want to speak, you can raise your hand, and I can call you up if you want to ask additional questions so elizabeth, if you want to speak, um I can allow you to do so.

A

Okay, all right, so our next question from mimi um and I went ahead and changed your name mimi. um How many people answer the phones at 3-1-1.

E

D

Currently, you got it antonio, go ahead.

B

E

Ahead, all right, so currently we have uh just under 60 um people that are available to answer your phones um right now from 7 a.m, to 7 p.m.

A

Can you all talk a little bit about the training that goes into preparing representatives to serve the community.

B

Yes, this is antonio. I can talk about that so um currently, uh in what actually, in the next two weeks, we have a training class uh which will be a revenue class which- and this will be uh a six week- uh content training and then the agents they will have an additional four weeks, which we, what we call nesting or incubation uh period. So they can actually uh practice and demonstrate what they learned uh through the six weeks of training.

B

And then they will be released uh to the floor to um to answer your questions and provide service to you.

A

Thank you um make sure you you guys if you have some additional questions, go ahead and pop them in the q a or pop them in the chat. Can you all share a little bit because you serve both county and city departments? Can you talk about some of the more popular requests that you get or calls that you get?

A

Sometimes people probably aren't even aware of the different services that you all offer and how you can assist them. So can you talk a little bit about um the more popular calls that you receive um at 311.

C

Yeah, so some of the more popular calls that I actually will take on a day-to-day basis are like bulky item requests. I have large items that won't fit in my garbage can so I need to get my mattress picked up or I'm moving out of my home. I need to get this bed frame, mattress, dresser, etc, picked up, or also, if there's something going on your neighborhood, where there was a truck just happened to block your street and now your whole street recycling was missed for the week.

C

So I'll put in what is called a missed report that your home was missed and we'll try to see what we can do to get those items collected and then on the charlotte water side, you would look at hey. Yes, I have a leak at my property looks like my water meter may be leaking or I have a leak in the yard or there's some wet spots in the grass, and I want to see what's taking place within my community or at my home and also on the charlotte water side.

C

Just anything that you can almost imagine with your water bill from just what's my balance to what's going on with my bill to what is this sewer charge or what may be increasing my bill or I just feel like my bill- is higher than normal this month what's taking place, or you also have people who want to get a new meter because they have a regular water meter, but they will want a separate meter for just their lawn. So now they want a lawn meter.

C

Those are some of the biggest ones that I personally see taking the revenue, skill and the solid waste skill which called generalist.

E

um And to add on to that, um a lot of calls that we receive in into the uh into the information center is uh people who may have concerns about different type of animals, um loose dogs, or uh they went on to our animal care and control website. They want to adopt the kitten or um they actually are unable to treat or take care of their dogs any longer.

E

They want to know how they can give away the dog, um so we actually um have a partnership with animal uh care and control or people might have. You know somebody called in today about uh coyotes in their neighborhood and what can they do to uh combat the coyotes from attacking their pets and animals? Or you know wild birds, injured animals, and things like that.

E

So we cover a lot of ground, also some of the things that people want to complain about if they have a neighbor who loud they're playing the music too loud, their grass is too high. Their yard is junky.

E

These are also things that we process at sharmak311 so, and I always tell people that, even if you don't know who to call give us a call, because if we can't answer your call, then we will get you in the best position to have. You answer uh your question. Rather we'll put you in the best position to have your question answered um and also too I want to put in our our name number. Sometimes three one one doesn't work on certain cell towers.

E

um Our direct number is seven zero, four, three, three, six, seven, six, zero zero um and if you have a phone or something you want to lock that in, if you having any trouble dialing 311, that is our local number, that you can call um and we'll still be able to answer the call as you as if you did, dial 311 directly.

A

Awesome, thank you both um one. Just a little shout out. Thank you, elizabeth for sharing your experience, a recent experience with 311. We appreciate you sharing that and glad everything went smoothly for you. Another question in the ch in the q. A is: can you provide guidelines of what issues go to 3-1-1 non-emergency police versus 9-1-1.

B

uh Yes, so uh you can actually call us for noise complaints um so whether it be um fireworks or um sometimes people call us if they think they hear gunshots, but ultimately, something like that will go over to 9-1-1. uh You have abandoned vehicles, uh parking violations and graffiti complaints.

B

So if you notice someone has spray painted your fence or any type of um graffiti, uh if it's um you know on, I don't know um on the side of a building, but if it's on your personal property we can actually put that in and also connect you um with non-emergency police services. So you can actually do a report. You know for insurance purposes, um uh if you're, if your car gets towed. uh If you're looking to to find your car, you can give us a call. We can.

B

We can look in the uh tow system to see um where your car is located, so those are pretty much um some of the things that we can do here at 3-1-1 as relationship emergency.

E

um Also, just to add to that, if you have lost your wallet, a stolen id, stolen um articles and things like that, that would be another reason for you guys for us to get you over to non-emergency police. um You know or if you just wanted to do a police report, and you don't need an actual police officer to come to your residence or to your business. That would be another reason why we would get you over to not emergency police.

A

Thank you. Our next question, where is 311 located um mimi, is the president of the east, charlotte coalition of neighborhoods and they're working on their august newsletter, and she wanted to know. Would it be an option to interview someone from 3-1-1 and would they be able to take a photo to include in their newsletter.

C

uh So I can give you the address, so our building is not actually located in a city building. We do have a office space, but it is located at 101 claude freeman drive, and I can spell that out. It's a c is in trolley l, a! U d is in dog e as an echo and then freeman f-r-e-e echo, echo imaz and mary a-n drive, it's sweet, 250 west and that's charlotte north carolina 28262 for the second portion of that um I will let antonio answer that portion for you.

B

Okay, so uh what I can do is because I'm not sure exactly who well I'm thinking. Actually it would be um raquishla stewart she's our division manager, but we also have a partner uh liaison manager which is lynette mccallum, um and I can actually give you their uh email addresses and to see if something can be set up.

A

Yeah mimi we'll get that information to you. uh We can send you an email um tomorrow morning with that contact information to see if you can get that set up.

A

Do we have any additional questions.

D

You're welcome.

A

All right, if we don't have any questions, I think that's it did you all want to leave us with anything or anything, pressing that you didn't talk about that you wanted to share.

A

All right and thank you all so much for joining us as I stated this information, what was being recorded and will be available on our training on demand website. um If you have any follow-up questions, you can reach out directly by calling 3-1-1.

A

um If you have questions about the presentation in particular, you can send me an email and I can get in touch with either antonio matthew or antoine um to get your questions answered. But we sincerely appreciate you joining us and I'm just spending the evening with us have a great night.

D

C

Have a good night, everyone.