There are many places you might encounter Town of Huntsville staff: when you submit a building permit application to Melissa at Town Hall, when you purchase tickets from Samantha at the Algonquin Theatre box office, when you borrow a book from Neil at the Huntsville Public Library, when you go for a swim lesson with Jane at the Canada Summit Centre, when you learn more about Huntsville’s past from Sara and Ron at Muskoka Heritage Place, when you talk to Greg about renting a community hall for an event, when you call Andrew in the bylaw department with a concern, or when you learn about fire safety from Mike at the Huntsville Lake of Bays Fire Department.
Every one of them, and the dozens more town staff like them, is there to answer your questions and help you to find what you need. And they want to know how they’re doing.
They’ve launched a new Customer Service Survey to ask just that.
“Our main goal as a lower-level municipal government is to provide services in our community,” says Town of Huntsville CAO Denise Corry. “It’s been a while since we touched in with our community base to find out if we are providing them with the services that they require in a way that meets their needs. We want to gather feedback from the public on ways that we can provide better service—how can we help the community and be better at what we are doing.”
Town staff regularly do internal service-level reviews, too, and have made some recent changes to improve customer service.
They launched the myhuntsville.ca engagement platform this year. “It has allowed the Town to engage with the public in a new way,” says Corry. “An online engagement platform allows individuals to provide their feedback and to be engaged remotely and at their leisure which has been quite successful.”
They will also soon be making changes to their telephone system based on feedback from residents, to make it easier to reach a specific department or staff member. Look—or listen—for that by the end of the year.
The third-floor customer service counter has been reopened to help relieve congestion, and residents can now register for recreation programs online instead of having to call or register in person (but you can still register those ways, too).
All of the Town’s websites have been updated—Town of Huntsville, Muskoka Heritage Place, Algonquin Theatre and Huntsville Public Library—to make it easier to find information. And an open data portal on the main Town site provides interesting information and maps like parking locations, town-owned properties, and heritage properties.
Provide your feedback
You can complete the brief Customer Service Survey at myhuntsville.ca or you can visit any of the Town’s customer service desks—at Town Hall, at the Canada Summit Centre, at the library—anytime between August 26 and September 16.
During the week of August 26 to 30, Town of Huntsville staff will also be at various locations around town to kick off the survey and to gather your input about their customer service and ways in which they could make it even better.
You’ll find them:
- at the Port Sydney Beach from 3-5 p.m. on Monday, August 26, just before the council meeting;
- at the Town Docks on Wednesday, August 28 from 5:30-7 p.m. just before the final Concerts on the Dock of the season;
- in downtown Huntsville throughout the week; and
- during regular hours of operation at Town Hall, Canada Summit Centre and Huntsville Public Library.
The information gathered from residents will be used to develop a new customer service strategy that will be presented to council this fall.
Corry encourages everyone in the community to provide their input.
“The important thing is this is an opportunity for members of our community to have their say on areas that they feel we can perhaps improve with our customer service and to identify if we are in fact meeting their needs,” she says. “We are here to serve the community and we need to make sure that we are meeting all of their needs.”
Take the survey at myhuntsville.ca now and “help us, help you better!”
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I was involved in a traffic accident 6 yrs ago, I am a below the knee amputee now. The town forced me to submit a site plan in order to obtain a building permit to make my home wheelchair accessible. I closed in my existing car port so we could park indoors. I submitted my application and a 2500.00 dollar deposit as requested.Needless to say most of the work has been completed. I met all the requirements of the site plan . I have been trying in vane for the last two years to get my deposit back but the planning department refuses to cooperate. Is it the towns responsibility to make it harder for people with disabilities to remain in their own home. I lived in Huntsville for most of my adult life, paid taxes, volunteered for numerous local organizations. Ran a successful business and employed people in the area.
People with disabilities have enough hurdles to overcome without being subjected to unnecessary fees. Forcing people with physical disabilities to pay a premium to remain in their homes is callous at best. Where does accessibility fit into this equation? Why would the town of Huntsville force people with physical disabilities to incur significant costs in order to retrofit their home. The cost to renovate a home for someone who is disabled is significant. A lot of people do not have the means to make these changes so they suffer undue hardships because of it. With the majority of area residents being older is this requirement necessary or fair considering we will all face challenges as we age.
Town of Huntsville CAO Denise Corry
herself is outstanding – personable and professional. Let’s hope a way will be found to have a quality workplace to house quality staff such as Ms. Corry.
Samantha at Algonquin Theatre is ‘the best’ – cheerful, helpful, has remembered my name since 2nd visit.
Yer’ gettin’ a might cranky in your old age Pat. You’re answering a question that ain’t been tabled. LOL
How about a survey on why residents are not seeing sweeping tax cuts and better delivery of services through streamlining and sweeping cuts to overhead, like businesses provide? More service, better prices. Love to see a survey describing how quickly the roll out of seeing return on investment should happen instead of waste?