Customer Service is what the City of Knoxville 311 Center for Service Innovation is all about. City residents can dial 311 to access information about services provided by the City.
Opened in May 2005, the center serves as an easy-to-use direct line to Knoxville government and is designed to help the administration ensure that services are being delivered efficiently.
When citizens call 311, a customer service representative will enter their service request into the City's advanced tracking system and submit it to the appropriate City department immediately.
All requests for service will have a tracking number so customers can check the status and get updates on their request.
Approximately 1,000 callers a day dial 311 for information regarding garbage, recycling and leaf pick-up, street light outages, parking tickets, potholes, road conditions and other non-emergency issues.
311 operators also field calls to
East Tennessee’s 211 line dedicated to referring residents to social services. 211 is a partnership with CAC's Office on Aging and the United Ways of East Tennessee.
During the Nov./Dec. 2016 Gatlinburg fire recovery, 311 provided assistance to Sevier County residents and the State of Tennessee Emergency Management Agency to coordinate efforts for timely services and support.
Knoxville's 311 provides City managers with detailed reports that includes such information as response times, action taken, maps and other data to assist them in better deploying resources and to make the delivery of City services more efficient.
Information about events occurring in Knoxville, including Christmas in the City and Festival on the Fourth is also available by dialing 311.
About 200 cities and counties across the country have implemented 311 in various forms to handle non-emergency calls since the Federal Communications Commission approved the number's use in 1997.
Knoxville's 311 receives approximately 250,000 calls per year and is one of the most cost efficient centers in the country.