Pasadena’s Citizen Service Center Sees Increase in Calls About Water Wasters

Pasadenans seem to be keenly aware of the importance of conserving water given the extreme drought conditions and water shortages. The City-operated Citizen Service Center (CSC) reported an increase in calls about wasting water month over month in 2022.

“When these reports are received, they are automatically sent to our PWP Water Conservation Team, which confirms the violation and will initially send a courtesy water waste notification to the resident via email and/or mail,” Tony Olmos, Pasadena’s Director of Public Works, said. “Our PWP Water Conservation Team works with customers to assist in correcting any violation and education on how to conserve water at your home.”

Started in 2014 as a centralized customer service to provide the public with quick and easy access to all Pasadena government services, the CSC answered a whopping 38,882 calls in 2022 from January through July.

Bulky Items-Schedule Pickup is a service topic that has always been on top of the list of the top 20 most-requested concerns in the City. 

Wasting Water calls have consistently been in the list since 2018, according to the report presented to the City Council’s Municipal Services Committee. 

In 2021, the CSC received a total of 4,929 calls related to Wasting Water, second in the list after Bulky Items. Between January and July this year, Wasting Water calls reached 1,136. 

Of the top concern, Bulky Items pick-up, Olmos said the CSC coordinates calls with the Resource Recovery and Recycling (RRR) Division of the Department of Public Works as soon as they’re received. 

“CSC and the Resource Recovery and Recycling Division of Public Works work closely together daily to coordinate and schedule pick- ups quickly,” he said. “In addition, RRR monitors locations considered ‘hot spots’ in the City to pick up regularly dumped abandoned items.  Public Works focuses on educating residents to contact CSC to schedule their two free bulky item pick-ups available each year.” 

As a centralized service to help Pasadena residents connect with their City, the CSC can be reached by phone, via its own page on the City’s website, through live chat and a mobile app. Knowledgeable customer service representatives are ready to answer questions about City programs, services and events, and to refer the caller to the proper office within City Hall if necessary.  

The CSC keeps a list of 169 available request topics, each of which is assigned to an individual employee or work group to address. Once a request is submitted via any available avenue, a CSC request is created, which in most cases automatically creates a work request for field staff.

“Our CSC system is integrated with our Public Works work order system which allows for real-time notification,” Olmos said. “When a request is submitted, residents have an option to provide us with their email address and they will be notified upon completion of the request. Our mobile app users simply need to open up their app to view their existing requests and the status.”

Graffiti requests, another top concern among Pasadenans, are handled with the same process, Olmos said. Once a graffiti request call is received, the CSC notifies the Public Works field crew and requests them to remove all graffiti within 24 hours. 

“Although we don’t think we could prevent all graffiti, we feel that removing graffiti immediately helps reduce the recurrence at that specific location,” Olmos said. “In addition, City staff takes photos of the graffiti and forwards them to our Police Department for possible prosecution should the perpetrator be taken into custody at a later date.” 

Each year, representatives assigned at the Citizen Service Center get more than 85,000 phone calls from Pasadena residents and visitors, engage in over 5,000 chat conversations, and create over 35,000 service requests that are forwarded to different City departments and offices. 

“The Citizen Service Center strives to provide the public with quick, easy access to all Pasadena government services while maintaining the highest possible level of customer service – City services simplified,” Olmos said. 

Requests are considered closed or resolved whenever the work required has been completed by field crew or by City staff. The CSC may also close a request call when it refers the matter to another responsible department which then takes over the case. When a request is closed after a referral, the concerned resident is notified about the next steps being taken, and advised that he or she can inquire about the status in the future.  

“CSC staff is working on enhancing our outreach efforts to further market CSC and also welcomes the opportunity to attend community meetings and introduce CSC to our residents,” Olmos said. 

The Citizen Service Center can be reached by telephone at (626) 744-7311 or via email at pasadena311@cityofpasadena.net. 

More information about the CSC is available at www.cityofpasadena.net/citizen-service-center.