New Citizen Contact Center addresses county call volume now and for the future

Contacting the correct department will become much easier with the new Pinal County Citizen Call Center.

A celebratory ribbon cutting Wednesday morning marked the opening of the new Citizen Call Center. The center is the completion of a goal the Board of Supervisors set at the beginning of the 2005-2006 fiscal year.

“Today’s celebration is another critical advance in e-government,” said Vice-Chairman David Snider. “We are working on getting Pinal County to the 22nd Century; this Citizen Call Center is just one step in that direction. We certainly are changing the way we do business around here.”

Citizen Call Center Administrator Jerry Keely said the need to better expedite calls was the key factor in getting the system started. “With the growth Pinal County has experienced in the past five years, the Supervisors were aware the amount of calls had increased to over 250,000 per month,” Keely said. “It was recognized that we needed to provide a different approach to customer service and get a better handle on the call volume.”

Keely added that the amount of calls is increasing by 15 percent each year.

A committee of Information Technology staffers was tasked with finding a system that could handle the call volume Pinal County is experiencing and will experience in the future.

While several counties, such as Maricopa and Pima, do employ such communications systems, the committee sought to design a system that would fit Pinal’s needs. In fact, both Maricopa and Pima County sent representatives to the ribbon cutting to examine the new system.

“We’re still in the beginning of this project,” Keely said. “By no means are we going to sit still and think the job is done. We have a committed group who are determined to make communication with our county officials much easier for everyone.”