Civic Engagement August 2021
Civic Engagement - Continuing to Serve
Matt Harris, Deputy County Administrator, Chesterfield County
Over the last 18 months Chesterfield has endured a lot. At the onset of the pandemic the county not only figured out a way to maintain service delivery while dealing with a global health crisis, but also implemented new and innovative ways to serve our ever-evolving community.
Recognizing the swift pivot to deliver the county’s core services through new solutions, early in the pandemic Chesterfield took inventory of all departments had done in response to their altered service operations. From that list, many new service delivery solutions have now found themselves woven into business as normal. As I shared with your last summer, the county’s curbside library service was a huge success and is here to stay as another option for checking out materials. Early this summer, Chesterfield rolled out a new customer service portal for concerns and assistance. The county is dedicated to upholding the highest standards through efficient use of resources, promoting integrity and accountability, and ensuring Chesterfield is the best place to live, learn, work and play. As part of that commitment, the county actively markets the opportunity for anyone to conveniently provide general comments and feedback, report fraud, file a non-emergency crime report, or report road and drainage issues. The county wants the community to know they can reach out anytime, anywhere – so much so, Chesterfield even advertised the new portal on a billboard. Leveraging existing technology through the county’s web platform, the application was developed completely in-house and is designed utilizing workflow to automatically route a submission to the appropriate department for resolution or review.
Working towards further enhancing the customer service experience, Chesterfield has begun some initial work to explore options for better service when customers travel between departments, ideally offering a one-stop shop customer service center. The customer service center would offer the ability to make multiple transactions in one location, versus having to visit various offices around the county complex. The first step would involve testing out a pilot program in the county’s main administration building. Upon successful implementation, the model could be replicated in other areas of community, such as libraries, where customers would have a more convenient opportunity for transactions and obtaining general county information closer to their home.
While the entire world is still dealing with COVID-19 and figuring out how to keep moving forward – one thing is certain – Chesterfield is open, available, and continually seeking new opportunities to meet our community and serve our customers. Not even a pandemic of epic proportions can stop the county’s talented and eager workforce to develop and deliver the next best thing. Stay tuned, there’s more to come.