County 311 audit finds fast response times but notes closure‑tracking inconsistency

Columbia County’s internal audit office reported Tuesday, June 10, that the county’s 311 call center generally resolves requests quickly — typically within a day — but the audit could not calculate a reliable average closure time because more calls were not marked closed in the system than in prior reviews.

The issue matters because accurate closure tracking affects performance measurement, interdepartmental accountability and public transparency for resident service requests.

Audit presenter Mister Schneider told the committee that reviewers checked revenue calculations, purchase orders, purchase card usage and time sheets and found no problems. "The response time was, to be quite honest, really, really excellent," he said. Schneider added auditors "noticed that there were more calls that had not been marked as closed relative to those previous audits, so we couldn't do that kind of calculation"; he said unresolved marking did not necessarily mean service requests were not resolved, noting many calls are forwarded to other departments. A committee member observed the discrepancy could be tied to not everyone using CitiWorks, the county’s work‑order system.

Schneider suggested the difference probably reflected workflow and system‑use issues rather than unresolved service requests; the transcript records no committee direction beyond noting the observation. He also referenced elevated call volumes following a recent hurricane, which committee members suggested may have contributed to the backlog in closure markings.

No formal policy action was recorded in the transcript; the audit was informational and the presenter listed other audits planned in the rotation.