ACTION REQUESTED:
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Communication from the City Manager and Assistant City Manager with a Request to ADOPT an ORDINANCE Amending the City of Peoria 2021 REVISED ANNUAL BUDGET Relating to the General Fund, in the Amount of $75,000.00, for the Expansion and Improvement of PEORIA CARES CALL MANAGEMENT.
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BACKGROUND: Currently, response to Peoria Cares phone calls is limited to the hours that City Hall is open and done as a part of the job of number of employees. These employees often experience disruption in their duties and have difficulty working on other items because calls may interrupt their ability to attend meetings, go to appointment, and even meet deadlines.
Through the integration of Peoria Cares phone response with Advanced Medical Transport of Central Illinois (AMT) dispatch team we will be able to free up our responding employees to become more value add, increase the hours and expand the days (adding Saturday morning) of operation and improve consistency, as the telecommunicator will only have phone response duties. Because the AMT dispatch has a number of people and services performed they will be able to act as offer overflow during peak moments.
This work is expected to require the hiring of a full-time person and will be billed at $25 per hour to eliminate current, disruptive impact on City staff. We plan to start with coverage from 8AM to 6PM Monday through Friday and from 9AM to 1PM on Saturday.
FINANCIAL IMPACT: The annual cost will be up to $75,000 with these hours.
NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERNS: the transition should not be apparent to people calling the number.
IMPACT IF APPROVED: Improved service, extended hours, and reduced disruption of current city staff.
IMPACT IF DENIED: We continue to have the disruptive and limited support of phone calls to Peoria Cares
ALTERNATIVES: Stop accepting phone calls in real time, take messages and call back and redirect people to using the phone app, website and other communication options....
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