Council Goes High Tech With Noise Complaint Handling

Council Goes High Tech With Noise Complaint Handling

The Dunedin City Council is expecting that a new IT reporting system that enables real-time monitoring of noise complaint responses will speed up handling of complaints by residents.
 
Dunedin City Council Environmental Health Team Leader, Ros MacGill, said the new IT system had been introduced following the recent awarding of the Council’s noise control contract to Armourguard.
 
“Utilising Amourguard’s technology, the backroom communications and logging of noise complaints will move from call centres and telephones to one of direct contact via hand held personal digital assistants in the field. In this way, data will be collated directly into a central database in real time,” Ros said.
 
“Introducing this technology will effectively remove any double-handling of information and make the monitoring of specific complaints more efficient.”
 
Currently, the Dunedin City Council fields around 3,500 noise complaints every year.  The busiest periods are at the start and finish of the Otago University calendar year.
 
“My team will now be able to view in real time exactly what stage a specific noise complaint is at.  As a result, we are better placed to more accurately measure how we’re performing which ultimately means better customer service and satisfaction.
 
“While there will be a lot of changes occurring behind the scenes, it will be a seamless transition for residents as they will still contact the Council’s 24 hour call service centre in the first instance, if they want to lodge a complaint.”
 
Amourguard Otago-Southland Branch Business Development Manager, Sharlene Caskey, said the team was pleased to be tackling noise control on behalf of the Council.
 
“We’ve been tapping into Armourguard’s existing network of noise control expertise which locally includes the Christchurch City Council and Queenstown Lakes district.  These are just two of several local authority contracts across New Zealand where we have established a solid track record for handling noise control response services.”
 
The awarding of the noise control contract to Armourguard means that employees working on behalf of the Council are now empowered to undertake noise control checks for the city.
 
“Our Noise Control Officers are trained to work with the community to achieve the best results,”Ros said.
 
“Ultimately, we expect the new system to be a win-win situation for all involved.”