Tempe improves technology to serve you better

Innovation is important to society. By improving the processes and technologies we use, we can become more efficient and solve problems to make our world more comfortable and healthy.

In Tempe, many of our businesses are technology-based. We appreciate the future-oriented outlook they bring to our community. We can learn from these companies and embrace some of the ideas and concepts they offer.

As a city, it is important that we utilize the tools of the day to connect with those who live here, work here, go to school here or visit us. As a city, we want to be responsible with the revenues we receive and make the most of those dollars. In 2011/2012, Tempe will roll out three new advancements for our community:

• Tempe 311
• Our new tempe.gov website
• A new utility billing system

Each of these is designed to help you get the information you need faster and to help make the city more efficient.

One Call to City Hall
Tempe 311 is a centralized call system that should minimize the number of times a caller needs to be transferred to get to the appropriate person. When it launches late this year, Tempe will likely be the first city in the Valley to offer a comprehensive system that will address questions and issues from residents, businesses, visitors and students. Some city departments have already switched over with great success. We will continue to add other departments until all are onboard.

Beyond reducing wait times for callers, Tempe 311 should streamline the process from the initial call to the resolution in the field. The system allows Tempe to track its responsiveness for the first time and make improvements to work flows and staffing, if needed. Your call to City Hall will be monitored from the moment you make it until your issue is resolved.

Find Online Information Faster

Many people prefer to get their information online rather than calling. The city’s website, www.tempe.gov, is also undergoing a major revision. The website will be much leaner, requiring fewer clicks to get to the answers you need. There will be more ‘how to’ videos, more transparency and the structure of the web should be very logical for most people.

Make Paying Utility Bills Easier

The forthcoming utility billing system will allow people to go paperless or set up recurring payments for their City of Tempe utilities. The phone version of the system will also be improved.

These are just three ways that we work toward being innovative, efficient and service-oriented for our community. If you have ideas, I’d love to hear them. Contact me at onnie_shekerjian@tempe.gov.

Prioritizing for success

Opportunities abound in Tempe and there are so many ways to spend time and energy to improve our community. It’s hard to choose among them without some sort of process to sift and prioritize.

It took time and reflection to determine how to conduct my activities as a councilmember for the City of Tempe. Here are my three guiding principles. Each coincides with a component of the Technology, Sustainability and Economic Development Council Committee that I chair:
• Preserve our Quality of Life – Economic Development
• Respect our Resources – Sustainability
• Promote Open and Accessible Government – Technology


• Preserve our Quality of Life – Economic Development
Tempe’s quality of life is very high. Our services are among the best in the state and rank nationally in many cases. The services Tempe provides are not always just for residents – they are open to the visitors in our community and our workforce. The vibrancy of our downtown, Tempe Town Lake and our special events draw people from around the globe. Economic Development is a key to the ability to offer excellent services. Our high quality of life attracts businesses – our businesses allow us to continue to offer a high quality of life. It is my desire to continue to attract new businesses, to retain the great companies already in our community and to look for new ways to help our businesses be successful.

• Respect our Resources – Sustainability
Some consider recycling and sustainability efforts as very ‘granola’ things to care about. What most don’t realize is that sustainability is really just another way of being frugal and being good stewards of the resources with which we have been entrusted. If we can reuse, recycle or repurpose our resources, we can save money and time while doing good things for our environment.

Tempe will someday be known for its green parks. Our city is composting usable waste to fertilize neighborhood parks. Not only does this allow us to keep that waste out of landfills, it saves money that would be spent on chemicals. Times are tight. When can be efficient without sacrificing services we should choose to do so.

• Promote Open and Accessible Government - Technology
A democratic government does not happen in solitude. Tempe is made of a multitude of voices and this makes us a better community. As such, people need to be able to be involved and informed. Technology can help us with this goal.

As a result of this committee, we continue to move forward with new communication tools, including social media. We are also renovating our tempe.gov website to be easier to navigate. One of the plans is to put our checkbook and contracts online so that people can see how their taxes are being spent at any time with just a click. We will continue to use online forms to gather opinions of those who cannot attend many of our brainstorming sessions and to survey people about our services. Soon, we will be unveiling a new 311 system that I think will revolutionize the way our residents reach us by phone. As tools are created, we will explore them to see how they could benefit our community.

These are my guiding principles and how they are at work right now. I’d love to hear from you as to how we can continue to build a better city. Reach me at onnie_shekerjian@tempe.gov

Here's the agenda for Friday's Technology, Sustainability and Economic Development Council Committee meeting. Hope to see you there.