At the Regular Council Meeting on Tuesday June 20, Manager of Customer Service, Steve Babcock and Director of Community Services, Craig Shanks provided Council an update on the municipality’s Customer Service Journey and Community Hub Model. Recovering from the pandemic, the municipality is taking a customer-focused approach to service delivery and shifting towards central access points with a full range of services.

“What I really want to talk to you more about today is Customer Experience,” said Manager Babcock. “There are a lot of different stages a customer has to go through when being served by us and regardless of what department a member of our staff works in they deliver a service, either internally or externally. By breaking down the Customer Experience journey and taking a holistic approach to service delivery, we can do a better job of building trust and confidence in the services we provide.”

In an effort to consolidate services, the municipality is developing a Customer Experience Strategy to address service delivery gaps and enable staff to serve the community better. The consolidation of services will be implemented through a Community Hub Model, featuring a full counter inventory, one-stop-shop for general inquiries, digital services where possible and a framework for sustaining a quality customer experience.

“The intent through Community Hubs is to streamline the more than 50 tasks across over 200 services our staff provide to the community,” commented Director Shanks. “This model will provide us with consistency to help ensure tasks are being done the same way, so it’s easier for staff to provide services and in turn a better experience for residents.”

The municipality made its first major step towards the Community Hub Model with the reopening of City Hall in January of this year and will look to expand on its progress with further partnerships with libraries and other key community stakeholders. To inform the Customer Experience Strategy and Community Hubs, the municipality is also launching an engagement campaign this summer.

A Customer Experience Feedback survey is currently available on the municipality’s online engagement platform Jump In Kawartha Lakes to provide a baseline for serving the community better: www.jumpinkawarthalakes.ca/customerexperience. The survey takes less than five minutes to complete and everyone is encouraged to fill it out following an interaction with the City.

“When we came out of the pandemic I wanted to recognize what we learned and Customer Service is key,” commented Deputy Mayor and Ward 8 Councillor, Tracy Richardson. “As councillors, we deal constantly with a variety of issues and explaining the process is a critical step towards informing our residents and building that trust and confidence. We are making steps with what we’ve done in the last few years to bring the level of service up and I think this is a great opportunity to push that education out.”

Further details on how to get involved will be shared in the weeks and months to come. For more information on Customer Service, please visit www.kawarthalakes.ca/customerservice. Staff are also available at servicecentres@kawarthalakes.ca, 705-324-9411 or 1-888-822-2225. For after hours municipal emergencies, please call 1-877-885-7377.