At your service, Spokane

The first step of Spokane Mayor David Condon’s plans to improve customer service became visible this week on the first floor of City Hall.

A desk meant to be a one-stop shop for residents doing business with the city opened, part of Condon’s My Spokane program.

The change, which involved moving some office cubicles, cost about $10,000. That’s significantly less than a version of the plan that became public earlier this year, which would have cost $1.4 million.

Within a month, residents will be able to pay parking tickets, sign up for parks and recreation programs, and pay utility bills at the counter. Five customer service representatives will work there. All will be transferred from other city departments, and they all already perform at least one of the functions that will occur at the desk. Condon laid off the only full-time employee who was working at the city’s previous customer service desk, which will be phased out next month.

Changes to the ground floor were made over the weekend to make room for a small sitting area with free coffee for visitors, and the desk formerly used by the treasurer’s office was relabeled “My Spokane Customer Service.”

“We are on the first step toward that goal to provide great customer service,” said Jonathan Mallahan, the city’s community and neighborhood services director who has led Condon’s effort to improve customer service.

Most of the cost of the change was for signs, overtime for city workers to make the changes over the weekend and some technology upgrades, Mallahan said.

The goal is to move most interactions between city workers and the public to the first floor, though administrators plan to maintain building and planning services on the third floor and are considering reopening to the public the walkway between the third floor and the River Park Square parking garage, Mallahan said. (River Park Square is owned by the Cowles Co., which also owns The Spokesman-Review.) The walkway was closed to the public during Mayor Mary Verner’s administration as a result of security concerns. Mallahan said the city will review security measures at City Hall and may also abandon a requirement for people to sign in to gain access to floors above the first.

Some Spokane City Council members said they like the new service area and are glad the higher-priced version wasn’t implemented.

“I love the concept and the fact that we were able to do it without any additional dollars,” Councilwoman Nancy McLaughlin said.

Council President Ben Stuckart, who criticized the more expensive plan earlier this year, said he was satisfied with the first step.

“Anything that makes City Hall more customer friendly and accountable is good for the citizens,” Stuckart said.

Councilman Jon Snyder said he saw the change as a continuation of efforts made to improve customer service in Mayor Dennis Hession’s and Verner’s administrations. Hession, for instance, started the “Ask Spokane” phone line, 755-CITY, in 2007. That’s the phone line that will continue to be the main customer service line.

Mallahan said the earlier $1.4 million plan would have more closely followed a customer service initiative in Bellevue and would have included construction, including the creation of conference rooms so citizens could meet with city employees without having to leave the ground floor.