by CONNIE TABBERT
Editor
COBDEN — The seniors have spoken – and Whitewater Region council members have listened and agreed with them.
Councillor Daryl McLaughlin has been approached by many people that they are not happy with the current phone system, he said at last night’s corporate services committee meeting.
“They’re saying they don’t get the personal contact,” he said. “When they call, and it’s mostly the older people, they get so frustrated that they have to wait until it goes through the whole system before they can hit zero.”
He suggested the phone be set so that it rings up to five times, and if no one answers it by then, it can go to the voice message system.
Councillor Charlene Jackson agreed that it would be more personal if someone were to talk to the people when they call the office.
Acting/Deputy-Chief Administrative Officer Marsha Hawthorne agreed.
“I do have people who are upset,” she said, adding, “Seniors don’t like to wait.”
She noted that administrative assistant Karen Bromley has said she would be willing to answer the phone and transfer the caller to whomever they wish to speak to when she’s not busy with a customer at the front desk.
If she’s busy, it will be up to the other two employees in the front office, Sandra Moss and Talia Moore, to answer the phone or it can go to voice message, A/D-CAO Hawthorne explained.
“That’s the way we did it in the past and it was just changed a couple of years ago,” she said, adding, “When I call the County of Renfrew, I get a person right away.”
A/D-CAO Hawthorne said the phone system can be revamped so that it rings three times and if no one answers, it can be sent to voice messaging.
The committee agreed to going back to the previous way of answering the phone with a more personal touch.
