Clevelanders have a new way to nudge City Hall to pick up dead animals, clean up illegal dump sites and fill in potholes. The city Wednesday morning unveiled its online 311 portal, which gives residents a way to keep tabs on their complaints virtually.
The launch gives residents their first chance to test one of Mayor Justin Bibb’s marquee 2021 campaign promises: to allow people to track their service requests as if they were Amazon or FedEx packages.
The new service is available at clevelandohio.gov/311. Users can create an online account and sign in to the system here. Those who prefer calling City Hall can still do so at 3-1-1 or 216-664-2000. Cleveland Public Library will also offer in-person help at its branches, CEO Felton Thomas Jr. said.
The mayor’s administration often takes knocks from City Council during budget hearings over unfilled positions and service complaints not yet answered. On Wednesday, Bibb said the city has been working to quicken its response times and come up with “clear metrics for every department.”
Even so, the mayor’s administration cautioned that the city will hit bumps along the way.
“This is a good starting point,” the mayor said. “It’s not mission accomplished yet. We’ll learn a lot over the next several years, but we believe this is a good first step to serve our residents.”
Bibb is promoting the new service as a “one stop shop” for resident complaints. While City Hall has long maintained a phone number for service calls, many people turn instead to their council members to kick city services into action.
Cleveland 311 backed by $4 million in ARPA funds
City Hall has been working for around two years on the project, setting aside $4 million in American Rescue Plan Act dollars to cover the costs. The city hired technology company Verint to build the online portal and marketing firm Little Jacket to advertise it.
Elizabeth Crowe, who leads the city’s Office of Urban Analytics and Innovation, said City Hall already receives about 20,000 complaint calls annually. The city expects those numbers to go up.
“With more volume is going to come more service requests, so please be patient with us as we fumble,” Crowe said. “This is change for all of us. It’s different for all of us. But we do expect this to go really well for our residents.”
