South Etobicoke residents made almost 30,000 calls for service last year ranging from hydro, water to wildlife issues.
Vocal South Etobicoke residents made the most calls to the City for service requests last year, according to a Toronto Customer Experience report.
Residents of Ward 3 Etobicoke Lakeshore made almost 30,000 calls for service to the City, according to a March 8 report from the Customer Experience Director to a Service Excellence Committee.
Toronto Rosedale was second with 25,596 calls for service and Toronto-Danforth was third with 25,428 calls, according to the Customer Service Division.
Etobicoke Centre was number eight with 22,735 calls and Etobicoke North placed 18th with 15,333 calls for service.
Wildlife issues kept City 311 operators busy with hundreds of calls.
So far in 2024 there has been more than 22,700 service requests made in Etobicoke Centre to 311, and the top requests last month were for pot holes, with 54; followed by 51 for garbage bin lid damaged; 43 to pick up dead wildlife; 38 for sewer line issues and 31 calls for injured wildlife.
There were 65 calls made to 311 relating to unsafe construction sites; 119 for untidy construction sites; 630 for leaking water hydrants; 663 for pollution spills; 661 for sewer odour; 308 for discoloured water and 1,064 for low water pressure, according to Toronto Water.
City officials said it takes from two to 10 days for City workers to respond to a call depending on the urgency.
Customer Service Representatives at 311 responded to some 848,000 general inquiries by phone, e-mail, twitter and other contacts last year, with property tax billing and vacant home tax being the most popular topics. Some 44,000 people made inquiries at the counters.
Traffic, roadways and transit delays were on top of the list for thousands of City residents.
The Service Committee said 80 per cent of their phone calls were answered in 75 seconds.
It said there were spikes of 28,180 calls made during snowstorms, which were handled on an average of just over three minutes for each call. Another spike occurred during the 2023 mayor by-election in which 311 received 6,321 inquiries from residents asking about election jobs, voting cards or polling station locations.
“The Complaints & Compliments project aims to create a more customer-centric, consistent, and scalable complaints and compliments process for Toronto’s residents, businesses and visitors,” according to the report.
City 311 operators received almost 900,000 inquiries last year and most were dealt with in three minutes or less.
The 311 service is also looking at expanding support and intake for calls relating to bicycle safety concerns and operation and maintenance of parks and facilities within them.
They are also working with refugee support systems so people can donate or offer accommodations to newcomers. Last year 311 received 73 inquiries, which included offers of housing support and requests for information on ways to support or donate.
The service is working with Toronto Fire Services (TFS) for providing non-emergency information freeing up TFS workers for more pressing calls. Almost 10,000 calls were received last year for non-emergency fire-related information.
Work is also being taken to launch a Housing Data Hub to track the City’s progress towards approving 40,000 affordable rental homes by 2030.
Wildlife issues kept operators busy across the City with response time for calls made within two to 10 days.
The 311 service is involved in the Alcohol in Parks Project by handling general inquiries regarding park locations, guidelines and by-law enforcement.
The service provides information on Transportation Services and Traffic Systems Operation as it relates to transit signal codes, communication issues and timing requests.
The 311 operators provides residents, businesses and visitors with easy access to non-emergency City services, programs and information 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The service is integrated with five of the City’s divisions including Municipal Licensing and Standards, Toronto Water, Transportation Services, Solid Waste Management Services and Urban Forestry.