Swift responses and maintaining astute customer service will be implemented by Mayo County Council with the recent adoption of a new customer care charter at the last monthly council meeting.
According to Fine Gael councillor Peter Flynn, a member of the Cultural, Heritage and Corporate Affairs SPC, the review of the council’s customer care charter came about following some of the SPC members’ frustrations at the lack of response that some members of the public experienced when trying to make contact with certain individuals/departments within Mayo County Council and the town councils. He said: “Many people were getting no response to mails/letters and people trying to contact the right person(s ) by phone often just went round in circles.”
The customer care review highlighted that there was no great problem with front-line staff but getting access to and a timely response from people higher up the organisation was a major challenge, and that there was a lack of consistency across departments and area offices with certain individuals at senior level very easy to access and very responsive whereas others were quite the opposite. It was also identified that even in areas like planning and roads where the number of projects undertaken by these departments would have reduced significantly over the last 12 months, response times to queries had not improved in any way.
The SPC proposed that it was not unreasonable for the general public to expect to have replies to letters, mails, and calls within a reasonable time-frame and that appointments could be made and adhered to in the appropriate situation, and a draft charter was brought before the council.
The key issues from this adopted charter include dealing with the public in a prompt and in a courteous manner — for written or electronic communication all correspondence will be acknowledged within seven working days. A comprehensive reply will be issued within four weeks, or if the council cannot reply within this timeframe a letter will be sent to explain why and when the customer can expect a full reply. As for telephone calls, they will be dealt with quickly and courteously with the staff members giving their name and section when answering calls, and they will be as helpful and informative as possible. If the information is not immediately available, contact details will be taken with a reply given within a nominated time.
Cllr Flynn said: “I believe the new customer charter sets down clear standards of performance which both the general public and the staff of Mayo County Council can refer to and which can be easily bench marked against in the case of disputes.”
