Mayor calls for faster response times

Newport Beach residents will no longer have to wait more than a day for city officials to call them back or respond to their e-mails.

Starting this week, the city will implement a new policy requiring employees to return all constituent communications within 24 hours.

Mayor Keith Curry made the call to arms during his State of the City address Friday. In his speech, the mayor called the policy part of a new “gold standard for customer service” being implemented by City Manager David Kiff.

Of course, if the telephone call or e-mail isn’t returned in 24 hours, the person complaining or calling in isn’t going to get a free pizza.

“If a constituent calls with a phone call or an e-mail, we’re going to try to get back to them in the same day,” Curry said Monday, elaborating on his 24-hours-or-less philosophy. “We think it represents a level of service that the citizens should deserve and expect.”

Already, Kiff said, he receives at least a dozen or more e-mails a day. That’s not including all the calls. And he’s not exactly the most sought-after guy at City Hall.

Building and Safety and General Services generally leads the pack in the number of calls and e-mails per day, Kiff said, with Animal Control a close second.