1997 AGN DEC 16 I01 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City of Colton AGENDA REPORT FOR COUNCIL MEETING OF DECEMBER 16. 19A7 TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL APPROVAL: LEN WOOD, INTERIM CITY MANAGER FROM: ANNA A. VEGA, FINANCE DIRECTOR SUBJECT: ELIMINATE ONE FULL-TIME CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE POSITION AND APPROVE HIRING OF TWO PART-TIME POSITIONS DATE: DECEMBER 8, 1997 BACKGROUND This request was previously presented to the City Council on November 18, 1997. However, the 3-3 vote constitutes no action, and therefore, staff is presenting this item for reconsideration by the Council DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS The 1997-98 fiscal year budget includes funding for nine employees in the Customer Service Division. However, the division has been understaffed' by two and, sometimes three, employees. The Senior Customer Service Representative is out on an Industrial injury and a Customer Service Representative was terminated due to disability on August 19, 1997. In addition, from August to the current date, customer service employees have been authorized vacation and an occasional sick leave, which is a normal course of business. As a result, on certain days customer service has been reduced from nine to five employees. Due to the reduced staff it has been necessary to close the drive-through window on certain hours or for full days. On those days, and with the exclusion of the Manager, two employees were available for cashiering and two employees were answering telephones. During breaks and lunch hours, the division goes down to one cashier and one telephone representative. During the month of October 1997 about half (1,640) of the telephone calls were abandoned (customer hang-ups). The abandoned customer calls are due to 20 - minute waits for a service representative on busy days. The representatives are responsible for nine lines or nine customers calling Customer Service for assistance. The monthly activity reports denote that Mondays and the 1St of the month are high volume days. These days are when staff and council experiences the long customer payment lines and the increase in telephone calls. Due to this customer trend, additional staff is necessary to meet the customer demands of the 1' of the month and Mondays. The requested, two part-time employees would be deployed to assist customers on the high volume days of Mondays and the 1St of every month. Item # 1