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Syracuse City to centralize constituent services under CARE initiative
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Summary
City staff described CARE (Constituent Assistant Resource Employees), a plan to co-locate and cross-train frontline constituent-service staff to improve referrals and coordination; a July 1 kickoff and a six-month review were cited, with a communications director vacancy noted.
Stephanie Pasquale, the city’s chief strategy officer, outlined a new program called CARE (Constituent Assistant Resource Employees) that will geographically co-locate existing, frontline constituent-service staff to improve coordination and referral outcomes, Pasquale said.
The initiative will not change job titles or responsibilities, Pasquale said, but will bring together employees who now work in different departments — including constituent services staff, the immigration affairs coordinator, and housing and codes staff — to "share information, sharing strategies, techniques, sharing brains" and provide more comprehensive referrals.
City communications staff told the council the director of communications position is currently vacant and posted; senior public information officer and public information officer roles are filled, and the budget shows public information officer positions moving from two in the communications office to zero because those positions will be budgeted inside the departments where the employees work. A marketing aide and the confidential aide position are filled, and the office currently has an intern.
Pasquale said the city expects to bring team members together around July 1 and will monitor call volume and case complexity for six months. "If that data shows that this is more than we can handle with these three employees, we certainly would want to have a conversation about expanding it," she said, noting the effort also includes work with digital services on software and reporting to track outcomes.
Michelle Spanski, deputy commissioner of neighborhood development, reminded the council that the immigration affairs coordinator role was created by the council in 2023 and described the position as flexible and community-facing. "We've really tried to leverage that position to the extent possible to be a convener amongst the various service providers," Spanski said.
Councilors confirmed the immigration affairs coordinator (referred to in the discussion as Adal/Adol Mayan) will be integrated into CARE and that Patty Lynch — who works in neighborhood and business development and handles codes, housing and emergency relocation — will physically co-locate with the CARE team while remaining in her home department.
No formal votes or motions were recorded on the item. Staff said the six-month report will inform policy considerations and any future requests to expand staffing for the initiative.
The council item closed with staff expressing enthusiasm about launching CARE and a plan to return with findings after the monitoring period.
