Agenda Packets - 1996/11/06 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

CM OF REQUEST FOR COUNCIL CONSIDERATION Agenda Section .1 P STAFF REPORT Report Number: FIZTIM G DITOPHOS Report Date: 11/8/96 0 CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE% OEM November 12, 1996 _. Special Order of Bus. fro S 8r"ss•Partne4�� _ Consent Agenda Public Hearings Council Business Item Description: Consider authorizing the an upgrade to the City's telephone system and a 1996 budget modification to pay for such upgrade. Explanation/Summary(attach supplement sheets as necessary) Summary: • At the present time, City Hall has five telephone lines into City Hall which service Community Development, Finance, Administration, Internet access, and general questions relating to the City. In addition, the City has numerous other lines for other employees or groups of employees such as the City Administrator, Police, Public Works, Park& Recreation, etc. For each of these groups, their is a separate group of telephone lines that can generally be used by only those individuals in that group. At times, all the telephone lines for a group of employees are being used and no calls can be received by that group or other employees do not have access to an outside line. In addition, it is not uncommon for the receptionist to have more calls than she can handle resulting in other employees having to interrupt their work to assist her. Over the last year, there has also been a reduction in clerical help which has compounded the need for finance and community development personnel to assist the receptionist. Also,messages can not always be routed to employees as 0 n as they are taken resulting in delays in responding to callers. In an effort to improve our communication abilities, we are proposing an upgrade to our telephone system as follows: • Consolidate all telephone lines into a"pool"whereby when we receive an incoming call or someone picks up a telephone to make an outgoing call,the first available line would be used. We would dedicate several lines as incoming or outgoing only to insure we maintained the capability to receive calls or call out. • We would have direct inward dial capabilities to relieve the calls coming though the receptionist, which should free up some of her time to perform other tasks. To accomplish the direct inward dial, we would be assigned a block of 60 to 80 new telephone numbers, which would be assigned to individual employees; employees could then distribute their telephone numbers so individuals could bypass the receptionist. The old numbers would continue to work for as long as we want them to, insuring that City services would not be disrupted. General City inquiries would still come through the receptionist. Individual phone numbers would only be given to those individuals that frequently deal with individual employees at the City. • Voice mail capabilities would be added to some employees' telephones; if such employees were on RECOMMENDATION: Approve resolution 5044. _a__ Bruce A. Kessel, Finance Director.