Rochester reports first-year 3-1-1 results; council presses for clearer response standards

The city's Communications, Engagement and 3-1-1 division presented its first-year metrics on Oct. 27, reporting about 40,400 phone calls in the program's initial year and steady growth in self-service knowledge-base and chatbot interactions.

Jenna Bowman, strategic communications and engagement director, said the 3-1-1 service functions as a centralized intake to connect residents, businesses and visitors with city services while leaving department-level customer service (for example RPU and the library) intact. Bowman said the 3-1-1 team has three staff dedicated to phone intake and a hybrid model that embeds communications specialists in several departments.

Key figures and findings

Bowman said the program handled roughly 40,400 phone calls in…