A new audit says San Diego needs to improve the accuracy and transparency of its Ordinance! tipster app reverses a recent drop in customer satisfaction with the app, which allows people to report potholes, graffiti and more problem.
The six-year-old app often gives customers inaccurate, incomplete or confusing information about when the problem they report will be fixed and when there is progress on that goal, says the 48-page test.
The auditor also recommends that San Diego access most major US cities and other major cities in California by establishing a 3-1-1 number. call center for complaints and service requests.
A 3-1-1 system, which will be an aid to Get it Done!, will improve equality by making it easier for non-English speaking and technologically challenged people to report problems, auditors say.
The test said the 3-1-1 system could also strengthen the city’s emergency response times by diverting calls from the Police Department’s non-emergency line.
Telephones remain the best option for reporting problems in the city. The city receives nearly 1 million requests by phone each year compared to the approximately 300,000 annual Get It Done! request.
In response to the findings, city officials agreed to make all the changes recommended by Fai! Those changes include giving customers a deadline for problem reporting and interim progress reports.
The city will also create new training programs so that employees provide accurate information, and create procedures for supervisors to review communications in the between city staff and providers Get it! request.
But most of the changes won’t take place until next summer or the end of 2023, the survey said.
City officials rejected the auditor’s recommendation to establish a 3-1-1 system, arguing that a hotline for complaints would further undermine customer satisfaction by simplifying submitting complaints that the city cannot resolve quickly.
Officials said they need to improve city services and the ability to respond to complaints before dealing with what they expect to be an increase in the number of complaints coming in.
“After the order, the city will give more access to a broken system, where customers can report issues in many ways, but if there are no resources given to fix it how quickly and efficiently those issues are resolved,” wrote Kirby Brady, the city’s chief innovation officer.
City Auditor Andy Hanau said concerns about San Diego being flooded with too many complaints to handle are reasonable.
“But the solution is not to continue a situation that makes it difficult for people who do not have enough English or limited digital skills and resources to access city services,” said Hanau.
City officials could work on a plan to create a 3-1-1 system while increasing the city’s ability to handle more positive complaints, he said.
Of the 10 largest cities in the country, only San Diego and Phoenix do not have 3-1-1 systems. Of the 10 largest cities in California, only San Diego, Long Beach and Bakersfield do not have 3-1-1 systems.
Similar to the 9-1-1 system, the 3-1-1 system allows callers to have direct access to a city hotline for complaints. Such measures were introduced by many cities in the 1990s, said Hanau.
The audit comes as the number of annual reports in the Get It Done! app has almost doubled since 2018, mainly because city officials have expanded the different types of problems that can be reported to more than 60.
The number of reports increased from 148,946 in 2018 to 296,209 in 2021. Meanwhile, overall customer satisfaction dropped from 3.4 to 3.1 on a scale of 1 at 5
Customer satisfaction varies widely with the type of problem reported. Complaints about camping, missed garbage collection and regular parking fell between 2018 and 2021.
The test says a factor in the app’s low customer satisfaction is that it often tells customers to “close” their case before actually solving the problem.
Typically, city officials mark the case closed because there is nothing the city can do immediately.
The auditor said that it is usually because the problem is on private property or land in another city, or because of an improvement that is planned as part of a big project that is coming up. A sample of auditors estimated that 19 percent of applications receive an erroneous “closed” message.
In response to the investigation, city officials agreed to release customer information after saying the case was closed.