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City honors Customer Services Week; department reports call, contract and digital metrics
Summary
Council recognized Customer Services Week and city staff reported that customer services handled tens of thousands of transactions this year; council also noted a recovery center referenced in the consent agenda.
City Council recognized National Customer Service Week and heard a summary of activity and performance metrics from Columbia’s customer services and utility teams.
Tiffany Radimer, director of customer services, and staff described a department of about 90 employees that handled high volumes of customer interactions in 2025. The presentation cited the following figures: a digital team fielding more than 6,001 one‑on‑one chats; a small customer‑service core of 23 representatives who processed 21,496 new water‑service contracts since Jan. 1; and roughly 175,000 telephone calls taken by city staff since the start of the year. Staff also described meter‑reading, field services and utility operations that support billing and service changes.
Council members commended the team’s work and issued a proclamation recognizing October 2025 as Customer Services Week in Columbia. During the consent agenda, a council member noted and expressed excitement about item 13, described in the meeting as a recovery center with an expected opening on the 13th; no further details on the recovery center were provided in the public record excerpt.
Why it matters: Customer services are the city’s frontline interface with residents and businesses for billing, service requests and emergency responses; council framed the recognition as acknowledgment of staff workload and improvements in customer experience.
