City of Minneapolis, MN Kuv Lub Nroog Minneapolis – WIXK 1590 AM, 17 Mar 2022

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From YouTube: March 17, 2022 Kuv Lub Nroog Minneapolis – WIXK 1590 AM

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Thov mus saib cov kev pab cuam nyob hauv lub Nroog Minneapolis lub chaw ua haujlwm Service Center

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Thank you very much. um I'm very excited to be here, and I appreciate you having me here today. My name is muende and I am the service center director with the city of minneapolis.

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The first question is for you: um you are the director of the city's new service center. Can you could you tell us what it is.

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uh Yes, so the service center, the city of minneapolis service center, is new. uh We opened in february of 2021 that's last year and before the service center opened, the city of minneapolis had five different service counters. Where customers, businesses residents, could go and get services, and each of these five uh counters were in different locations in different buildings and they each served a specific purpose. So, like we had one for utility billing, we had one for permits.

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We had one for police records, we had one for um business licenses, and so it was very difficult to do business with the city, as you can see, because let's say you are a new business owner and you wanted to register your license, get get your business uh licensed, so you had to go to one building to get your license and then, if you had a storefront where you wanted to put your business in and you needed to do some construction work to it to update it, you had to go to another city building to get your construction permit.

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If you wanted to go uh pay for your utility bill for that spot for that shop, you had to go yet to another building to pay your bill, and if you know there was some vandalism or some act that needed police presence and you needed to get a police report you get had to go to another yet another building, so it became very hard to do business with the city and so uh during covet when uh people started working from home.

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The city closed, like all other places and people started working from home, the planning for the service center started.

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So that was the effort that we worked around, bringing these five counters service areas into one, and that is what today we are calling the city of minneapolis service center, which is a one-stop shop, uh a single location where you can do all those functions that I talked about or you can apply for your permit. You can apply for your business license. You can pay your water bill and many other things.

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One day, like any downtowns big cities, um cities are complex, a different, complex place where you you don't everything, looks like a light great direction, it's really difficult. Where is the new building located and um when did it open? I saw.

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So um the new building is in downtown minneapolis and I assure you it's the best building in downtown if you go to downtown just look up around the best building the best glass building. That is this place where the service center is uh it's a very beautiful building? If you have not visited the building, I encourage all of you to it's um it's very accessible.

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It has a lot of features that would be of interest and uh it's right next to uh city hall, that's where the building is at and the address is 505 south 4th street and you know for more detailed directions. uh You can call 311 and they will provide you with directions or you can visit the city website or the service center website.

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A lot of questions that we've heard about is if this parking that always comes with you know, any new location is their parking space. So I will let you know that there is limited uh major street parking uh nearby, the building. uh We have several params where you can park at within a few blocks, or you can also walk through the skyway system. The building is connected to the skyway system.

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So if it's raining outside or it's snowing or you just don't want to be outside, you can walk through the skyway system and, as I mentioned, we opened february of last year. So we've been open through the pandemic and we have since served about a little over 16 500 customers in person who visited us.

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Thank you so much you you mentioned about sixteen thousand five hundred customers since open the building. That's a lot. Have you served all of those customers in person even during the pandemic,.

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Yes, we have so what became apparent quickly for us was that, though, a large cross-section of the city, customers who needed services were able to consume the services online, because when kovit happened, all our services was were converted to be online.

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There was a certain a group of uh there are certain people who could not assess those services online for various reasons either because they did not have um wi-fi connection or they did not have the equipment to do that. Or you know they were not able to uh cons, go online and apply for their permits, or maybe sometimes their websites were not working.

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So it became clear that we needed to be open, providing services, but we needed to be providing those services where making sure that our customers and our staff are safe, though we were in a pandemic because there's really nowhere else where the customers can go and residents or businesses can go and get a construction permit. It has to be us there's nowhere else. They can go to apply for what to pay for their water permit for their water meter.

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It has to be us, so we had to make sure that we are being accessible to everybody and not making uh it hard for anyone to get our city services, so we did open. We followed um the covid protocols very closely and the city had uh was following the cdc protocols too.

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So we were able to create a safe space, a safe and secure space for our staff and our customers to be able to come to us and as covet numbers went up as protocols changed, we changed with it and yes, so we were able to limit the number of people we were able to provide masks.

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We were able to provide hand sanitizers and um that's how we were able to serve the number that we serve over 16 500 people and we've been open since then, as of this week, this monday, actually now we're even more open. Now everybody is um at the at the service center. If you're coming in for services, you will not be connected to somebody virtually while at the service center. If you need a subject matter expert as from monday, they are all there.

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So, if you're, coming in with your plans, if you want to cons, do a construction, if you want to do repairs to your add a patio to your home, you can bring your plan with you to the service center and we have our plan reviewers on site, uh where they'll be able to help you in person. So we are even more open, as from this week,.

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One day for someone who's not like me, I my team from ncr. We have a regular bi-weekly meeting at the service center building, but for.

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Totally or not, um you know never been there before um once they get once they park their car and they arrive at the building. How would they find the service center inside? um Obviously, the center has many floors. 10 floors explain how people can find their locations.

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Yes, so um the service center, the building, has 10 floors um and the service center is on the second floor. So when you get into the main building, there are two ways of getting up to the service center. Once you get in at the main, uh the main entrance you'll you get to the information desk and there's someone sitting usually sitting at the info desk. You can ask them where the service center is, or you can just use the signage to go up to the service center, so you can either use.

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We have a large staircase, beautiful staircase that goes up to the service center on the left side of the building, or you can take the elevators on the right side of the building to come up to second floor. A little tip that I'll give you is that uh part of our signage for the service center is a bright yellow. So I'll say that if you follow the bright yellow like this yellow here, it's this bright, yellow!

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If you follow that yellow it will bring you to the service center, so anything that the service center does is associated with that color. Just for wayfinding so follow the yellow, the bright yellow and it will bring you to the service center.

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One day, one of the things that I was looking for when I was at the service center was some was asian food. um So two questions, two pieces and one same questions for you. Do you.

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Interpreter who could speak hmong and are there asian food in the in the lobby area where people um if they wanted some asian food, are those items available? The interpreters available in asian food available.

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So well, first, unfortunately, we don't have asian food in the lobby, but that's a good idea, maybe something we can think about. But we do have you remember the staircase that I talked about on the skyway. We have a cafe there that has starbucks coffee and a few sandwiches that you know you could enjoy. But I think the idea of asian food is really good, michael, so we'll think about that. But uh with respect to hmong um translation, we do have that.

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So in various we have translation services in different in different ways that I'll kind of go through quickly, so the service center we embrace our residents. Minneapolis residents are businesses and we also, as part of our service and our values, embrace diversity.

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We embrace different cultures, which is very personal to me, because I am a first generation immigrant from east africa and we also embrace accessibility, and you know no matter what language you speak. We have covered you. We have uh in translation services at the service center. So, yes, we do have uh hmong translation and we have it in two ways: when you walk up to through the at the information desk, we have kiosks um and also upstairs at the service center itself.

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We have kiosks and in this kiosks, that is where you go in and get your ticket. You know like how you go to um other service centers and you get a ticket and then once you're, you're being your turn comes up. You hear now surveying t001 that ticket you get it from one of those kiosks. When you go to those kiosks, they are translated.

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Our services are translated as you're trying to figure out what service you're coming from for you can either we have somali, we have hmong, we have spanish and then english in those kiosks, but then, when you additionally go up to the agent, they can connect you with any other language, including the four that I've talked about. We also have translation services uh and we also provide sign language translation too. So it does it if you're a hmong speaker and you need transl sign language.

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We can also provide that we have uh private rooms where you can go in and you can get a translator either on video or if you make an appointment, then you can have them in person. So, yes, we do have translation services. It's very personal to me. It's very personal to the city as part of the city values.

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One day you mentioned some of the service earlier uh cab. What specific services are offered at the service center.

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Yes, so, um as I mentioned, we opened the service center a year ago and we consolidated five service counters that were operating at the city at the time. So those are the services that were being provided and those counters are what we have started with with the consolidation and we have an opportunity to grow as we bring in more services that are being provided at the city and putting them in this one-stop shop. So currently, the services that we have um at the service are being offered at the service center.

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Are you can come in and pay your utility bill, uh so your water meter per services uh for any water meter services that you need like, for example, if you're moving and you need to move or transfer your utility bill service um from one location to another or from one person to another that is done at the service center. You can also come in to apply or renew a business license, a rental license or any trade license.

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So if you're starting a business, a food truck business, uh a taxi business, that is where you come in- to apply for a license and we take the picture there um so that you know you can have for some of the licenses. You need a a a lice, a card like a picture license, so we take those there. You can also come into a renew apply for new or renew permits like if you're constructing doing a construction.

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So we do we review the plans you can come in and we can a plan. A planner will review your plan for construction um uh code or even for zoning codes. That is done at the service center and, as I mentioned, we also do the police department records. So if you need an accident report, if you need a personal injury report or just a personal data report, all those police department records are at the service center and you can come and get them from there.

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One day, there's a there's, a lot of thoughts that was put into the making of the new buildings and the second floor service centers accessible to everyone. um You tell us about what was done. What was done that is inspiring, that is culturally. You know people feel culturally welcome, feel comfortable. What was specifically done to put the center for service center together.

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Yes, I love talking about this because it it's very personal to me and uh we did. There was a lot of thought that was put into the planning um not just for the service center, for the building as a whole uh to make sure that we uh we embodied the city's values of embracing equity, inclusion and diversity, and, um as I mentioned, that whole piece about translation services, making sure that all cultures are welcome was a big part of it.

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The other big part of it was, um with with respect to accessibility and inclusivity, is making sure that you know. uh Even we have provisions for those people who are blind or living with um with a vision impairment, and they they can. They can come in and with those kiosks that I talked about where people can select the service you're coming in for and they have translation on those kiosks.

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Those kiosks are also very accessible for people who are blind because they have braille fitted on them and they can actually navigate those kiosks with just a a pair of uh uh headphones um like they would at the atm bank and we've translated all those services again in braille.

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uh In the four languages for for people who are blind, so that was very critical and I don't think there's any other government entity um around that does that the banks have that in the atm. So we we have that at the service center, so to create independence so that they can also navigate our services independently.

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That was very uh important to us. The other thing that we have intentionally done is our space. Please welcome for a visit. If you haven't it's very open it it it's. You know it's yellow.

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It has a lot of yellow, but it's an open space that is meant really for the public, and we have all these conference rooms and private rooms where, if you've come in and you need a place that is quiet, maybe you've come in with with your child or you yourself need a place that is quiet because a place can sometimes get crowded and loud. We have provided a sensory room where it's a space.

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Where visitors, um you know, parents or children can take a break and stay calm, and you know it's really designed for those on the autism spectrum or those with sensory processing, differences um and people with other disabilities, and you know if you need a calm space and to self-regulate. That is a good space for you. um I talked to briefly about uh private rooms for for sign language, so we have those and they're fitted with technology um high-end technology, where we can provide translation services in person or even virtually.

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um We have also a couple of other things, so we uh we, our counters, have different heights whereby uh we have the standard height. If you know you come in there and you're standing, then it's the standard height by ada standards, but our counters also drop to a different lower height to accommodate anyone who is on a wheelchair so that they can be comfortable as we are providing services to them.

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We also have a lot of entryways that you know. For wheelchair. We have actually one dedicated elevator bank for wheelchairs. Anyone who's in a wheelchair can use that, instead of going to get crowded in the other elevate, the main elevator bank with everybody else. So we have a special one that they can use, and this one just comes specifically to the service center, because that's a public space and they can also use it to go downstairs.

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Thank you so much. Thank you so much for sharing this very important information with our community and I'm pretty sure that a lot of the folks on on air listening to us would definitely want to come down there for their services, especially the one-stop shop. I think that is very important. Great folks who don't don't have the language skills, don't know where to go from one department, one one side of the city to another side and there's a lot of there's a lot of one-way street and their parking challenge.

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So thank you so much for coming on coming out on air and share this very important. um I hope that in the near future, um your consideration to include some asian food because, like I would tell my colleagues we're going to have meeting there every other weeks during lunch time and take the bus down there if they would come from north minneapolis.

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And for them to get some food, I think that that is good. If we make some, um you know multicultural foods available for people.

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That's a really good idea. I like that. I like that, and you know the space was- was really created to be welcoming and to everybody and honestly we do welcome all visitors or residents and business owners, even those of you who do not live in minneapolis and are considering moving into minneapolis to live or to do business. You are very much welcome to the minneapolis service center and we are new, so we are really looking for.

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Let us know how we can best help you if we do not meet your standard, if there's something that you see that we could improve, please let us know you can stop by and ask for me at the service center or you can get in touch with michael and you know, ncr is a good uh partner and we'll get the information, but we're looking for feedback. Okay, asking for your feedback, any areas that we need to improve. Please let us know, but you're, very much welcome.

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Thank you so much.

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Day and naomi for coming on, the air have a nice day. Thank you. Thank you.

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