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5.4. SR 03-24-2003TO: FROM: DATE: SUBJECT: Item 5.4. MEMORANDUM Mayor and City Council Pat Klaers, City Administrator March 3 I, 2003 Request Partners Presentation by Howard R. Green (Complaint Tracking Software) This past summer and fall, staff had numerous meetings regarding possible changes the city should make in response to the R.C.Rolloff situation. The first issue discussed was burning permits and last fall the City Council approved changes to the burning regulations and permitting process. Staff has continued to meet and discuss other municipal issues that surfaced as a result of the R.C. Rolloff situation. One of the issues highlighted was staff communication regarding citizen complaints. Part of the issue is making sure that the complaints are fully understood initially and part of the issue is making sure that the correct party at the city level receives the complaint and deals with the issue. We are currently attempting to better define (and fairly distribute out) which city department deals with which type of nuisance or complaint issues. We are also discussing with everyone involved the necessity to accurately determine the nature of the complaint and concerns. In evaluating our citizen complaint tracking system, it is the staff consensus that improvements are needed. One approach, which staff believes is appropriate and worth further investigation (and hopefully implementation) is a complaint tracking software system. In this regard, Terry Maurer has reviewed with us that a division of the Howard R. Green Company (the technology group) specifically was established to deal with municipal computer software systems. They currently have four systems - Request Partner, Reserve Partner, Permit Partner, and Community Development Partner. The software system that the city is interest in pursuing is the Request Partner, and the International City Management Association (ICMA) has endorsed this software system. The immediate benefit and selling point for the city is that this is an excellent complaint tracking software system that will promote accountability. The city attorney likes this system and method of documentation in case we end up in court. This type of software system will keep the city up-to-date with current technology. The long-term benefit is that it will provide online citizen complaint and request opportunities in a much more efficient manner than simply emailing or calling city hall. Additionally, it has the opportunity to provide elected officials access to a wealth of information regarding city responses to various complaints that they may have received. Not only has the ICMA endorsed this system but also the League of Minnesota Cities (LMC) is in the final stages of negotiating a contract so that the software system will be available at an economical price for all Minnesota cities. A presentation of Request Parmer is scheduled for this City Council meeting. Terry Maurer and Doug Brown, from Howard R. Green will be making the presentation. Staff is not asking for approval to spend funds at this time, as we want the LMC contract to be approved first. Staff does want to receive Council feedback on whether or not it is appropriate to keep working on the implementation aspects of this software program based on the assumption that once a contract is negotiated the city would be pursuing the Request Partner system. Howard R, Green Oompany March 19, 2003 File: 900760CSM Mr. Pat Klaers City Administrator City of Elk River 13065 Orono Parkway Elk River, MN 55330 RE: REQUESTPARTNER DEMONSTRATION Dear Mr. Klaers: As you requested, we will be prepared to present a demonstration of RequestPartner to the City Council on Monday evening, March 24, 2003. Mr. Doug Brown from our firm will be present at the Council meeting to conduct the demonstration. Doug is the same individual who made the demonstration to the City staff. As a bit of background, RequestPartner is hosted software for tracking requests and/or complaints from citizens. As a hosted application, there is no City staff time required for software maintenance. Last fall, the League of Minnesota Cities, together with the ICMA and several other State league partners, put out a request for proposals for this type of software. Howard R. Green Company through our subsidiary, HRG Technologies, responded to this request for proposals along with approximately 12 other vendors. Through the proposal and interview process, RequestPartner and HRG Technologies were selected to bring this software to the League of Minnesota Cities membership. We are currently reaching the end of the contract negotiation phase. Our contact at the Minnesota League of Cities office is Mary-Margaret Zindren. Her phone number is 651-215-4034, or she can be reached by e-mail at mzindren~,lmc.or,q. As we have discussed many times, the strengths of RequestPartner fall into three categories: accountability, coordination, and communication. I will briefly discuss each of these individually, and Doug and I will touch on them in greater detail at the demonstration Monday evening. 1. Accountability From an accountability standpoint, RequestPartner allows the general public, City Council, and internal staff to track step-by-step exactly how requests and/or complaints are being handled. If a resident lodges a complaint for City staff to investigate, they can provide a e- mail address whereby they can be sent updates on the progress of their issue, or they can access RequestPartner through the City website and track their issue directly. The City Council and City staff department heads will have the same opportunity to track issues. In addition, RequestPartner will provide a long-term depository on past actions of specific complaints together with the ability to sort the history of complaints numerous different ways, such as the number of a specific type of complaint, the number of complaints Ltr-031903-Klaers[2] 1326 Energy Park Drive · St. Paul, MN 55108 · 651/644-4389 fax 651/644-9446 toll free 888/368-4389 Mr. Klaers March 19, 2003 Page Two handled by a City department, or the number of complaints at a specific address. By merging RequestPartner information with the City's GIS system, linking the two by PID numbers, maps showing different types of complaints or requests for service can be produced. 2. Coordination RequestPartner is not canned software but can be modified to meet the City's specific needs. The City creates the forms that will be filled out either by City staff or internet savvy citizens. The system can be set up so the specific types of requests for information and/or complaints are routed directly to one or more department heads, which provides for more direct communication and much better coordination between department heads. The City has had instances in the past where several different departments were dealing with the same issue but unaware of the other's activities. 3. Communication RequestPartner is set up to function such that on routine types of issues, they will generate generic letters where specific information relative to that particular property can be inserted and mailed. Also, direct feedback can be given to the person requesting service or lodging a complaint via e-mail. As the citizens of Elk River become more aware of this service, they can actually access it via the City website and input requests for service or complaints from the City's website. The website access will eventually help to reduce the amount of City staff time spent on the phone or at the City Hall public counters dealing with these types of initial requests for information and/or complaints. At Monday night's presentation, Doug will be prepared to run through the junk car complaint example that was utilized at the City staff presentation. If there is any specific information you would like Doug and I to be prepared to discuss and/or present, please call. Sincerely, Howard R. Green Company Terry J. Maurer, P.E. TJM:sw Ltr-031903-Klaers[2] Howard R, Green Company CONSULTING ENGINEERS