City to hold meeting about 311 and SeeClickFix

Staff frequently close issues raised on the online platform in minutes, despite no fix

The devil is in the details, an old saying that applies to the way the city deals with problems reported on SeeClickFix.

Our column last Saturday was about 311’s habit of closing issues reported on SeeClickFix, the online community engagement tool used in Toronto and across North America to report local problems, before they’re actually fixed.

The city’s 311 staff monitor prob- lems reported on SeeClickFix and issue service request ID numbers to open files on them and allow them to be tracked until they’re resolved.

We made the point that it is misleading for the city to close an issue before it is fixed, and that it is annoying to people who report problems and also to anyone who reads it and knows it was closed too soon to have been fixed.

Gary Yorke, the director of 311, acknowledged that some complaints are misidentified as potholes, and that its staff needs to better communicate the actual status of a reported problem to SeeClickFix users and readers.

So when the same thing happened last Saturday, the day our column about it was published, we were flummoxed, and that’s putting it nicely.

A report was filed about a “water hole” in a sidewalk on Brownlow Ave. The person who reported it thought it “might be a sign of something more serious.”

We noticed that the issue was acknowledged, assigned a service ID number and closed by 311 in three minutes. So we promptly reopened it and typed in a comment: “Issue closed three minutes after it was posted. Why does 311 keep doing this?”

The reopened complaint was acknowledged again, assigned another service ID number and closed in just a few minutes. Over the course of Saturday afternoon, we reopened it seven times, while the city kept closing it.

We checked back with Yorke on Monday, who looked into it and explained that the issue was funneled through 311 to transportation services, where a staffer repeatedly closed it after assigning it to be fixed.

Steve Johnston, who deals with media for transportation services, confirmed the chain of events for us.

But once again, closing an issue conveys to the public that the city is trying to create the illusion that it’s been fixed, when it hasn’t.

Yorke said he will soon convene a meeting with 311staff and key players from city departments that have to fix problems reported on SeeClickFix, to come up with better ways to communicate the actual status of issues.

And he has asked us to come to the meeting, to explain the public’s side of the communications problems and advocate for them, as a way of fine-tuning a solution.

It’ll be our pleasure to take part in the meeting, and we’ll keep you posted on how it turns out. What’s broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in Greater Toronto, we want to know. Send an email to jlakey@thestar.ca. Report problems and follow us on Twitter @TOStarFixer.