Panama City commissioners push for single 311 line, cleaner ticketing and standard checklists to improve resident service

Panama City commissioners on a virtual workshop on an unspecified date discussed centralizing citizen requests through a single phone line (311), cleaning up the city’s work-order system and rolling out written checklists so residents receive consistent answers across departments.

The discussion came after repeated examples of residents receiving differing verbal answers depending on which staff member they reached. Commissioner Granger proposed a recurring program to publish departmental checklists and “canned” responses so staff need not compose new verbal answers each time. “I would love the city to do is either find someone on staff who’s really good at copywriting … next week, can we start having one checklist come out of the planning department or the building services?” Granger said.

Why it matters: commissioners said inconsistent phone and email responses waste staff time, frustrate residents and create unequal access. They argued a central intake and better ticket hygiene would make service more equitable and easier to manage.

Most-important details - Commissioners and staff discussed creating a single inbound number (311) or a central call center that routes calls to the right department rather than relying on separate department phone trees. - Jonathan Hayes requested staff demonstrate potential phone/call-center solutions and return with costs and features. Hayes also asked IT to provide data on missed calls to identify problem areas. - The commission discussed historic technology attempts: SeeClickFix previously left many unclosed tickets; CityWorks implementation began in spring 2018 but stalled during COVID and post-hurricane recovery. Staff said the implementation consultant cost about $1,100,000 initially, and the annual renewal was reduced from about $140,000 to just over $80,000 by trimming roughly 30 user seats. - Commissioners suggested adding an assigned staff role or managed service to “keep the ticket list clean” (merge duplicate reports, close completed tickets) so the system does not deteriorate into unused backlog. - Technology options mentioned included a 311 call system, integration between CityWorks and citizen-facing tools (SeeClickFix/clickfix), and AI-assisted plan-review tools such as blitzpermits.ai as an example for speeding permitting review.

Discussion vs. direction - Discussion: Commissioners described problems with unclosed tickets, duplicate reports (for example, multiple residents reporting a single water leak), and uneven phone responsiveness—billing was repeatedly identified as an area with frequent resident complaints. - Direction/assignment: Hayes and other staff were asked to bring back demonstrations and data — specifically: (1) a demo of potential phone/call-center solutions and cost estimates in coming weeks; (2) IT-generated data showing missed-call volumes by department and time; and (3) options to improve CityWorks integration (including the new mobile app and available API modules). Janice (staff) and others were asked to gather vendor cost estimates for managed services that would handle meter/meter-antenna lifecycle and ticket hygiene. - No formal motions or votes were taken during the workshop.

Quotes “Depending on who you get on the telephone at city hall, depends on the answer that you get,” Commissioner Street said, summarizing why a standard intake is needed. Jonathan Hayes said staff will “look at what Mr. Purdue has at the tax collector” and “we’re happy to go … look at what the tax collector has,” referring to the tax collector’s call-center model.

Ending Commissioners asked staff to return with concrete proposals, demos and data in the coming weeks so the commission can decide whether to adopt a 311 model, a centralized call center, or enhanced CityWorks integrations. Staff said CityWorks has a forthcoming mobile app and that some technical fixes (API modules, seat reductions) have already lowered recurring costs.