8 Council Defin of Cust Service
CITY OF
CHANHASSEN
City Center ÐritJ(, PO Box 147
'onhlllien, Minntsota 55317
Phon, 612.937.1900
;,",,01 Fax 612.937.5739
¡inerring Fax 612.937.9152
,lie Softty Fax 612.934.2524
'b www.ci.chanhasstn.mn.us
8
MEMORANDUM
TO:
Mayor
City Council
Scott A. Botcher, City Manager ~
October 19,2000
FROM:
DATE:
SUBJ:
Definition of Customer Service
Consistent with the Year 2000 City Manager Task Plan approved by the
Council, the Council has identified "Define Customer Service with Council" as
a task to be completed in the month of October. As I indicated previously, prior
to moving ahead with the other customer service tasks identified as 200 I tasks,
in my opinion, it is imperative that the City as an organization define what
customer service is so we have some clue as to what target we are seeking to
achieve and also assist us in creating a baseline against which we may measure
future improvement.
No matter the methodology, as I indicated when we deliberated the Task Plan,
Customer Service- is going to be a very difficult thing to define.
Notwithstanding, I spent a substantial amount of time networking with
individuals in the municipal field and researching the issue. What I have
discovered is that even municipalities with customer service initiatives have not
defined what the term means.
I did find one example, however, that intrigues me. A community in North
Carolina collected information from both citizens and government employees.
A survey was developed to identify the gap between people's perceptions of
service levels and their expectations. The survey measured eight dimensions of
public sector service quality: convenience, security, reliability, personal
attention, problem solving approach, fairness, fiscal responsibility ,and citizen
influence. I believe this approach is unique and desirable as it measures both
the providers and customers perception(s). In some dimensions, there may not
be a gap where either customers or providers think there is. Perhaps
expectations have not been accurately communicated. Either way, a meeting of
the minds and definitional exercise as to customer service is best served by a
joint understanding ofthe others perception.
In summary, I would support the development of a methodology following the
path utilized in North Carolina. It will take professional development of the
methodology, but I believe that it will be very useful over the long term.
City ofClHW!JflSSe1l. A [Towinr community with clean lakes. aua/in scbools, a charminr downtown. thrivimT businesses. and beautifùl tJdrk.r. A ('mIl ,d/lrf to H/Jf. work. Ilnd t!/av.
~,,,.
Mayor & City Council
October 19, 2000
Page 2
As you can imagine, others may have different approaches to the dilemma. If
the Council has a hard and fast definition of customer service, you can say so.
However, I think to create one without any research would be arbitrary. I look
forward to our discussion on Monday evening. Thank you.
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