Public Service Announcement
Public Urged to Make Inquiries During Off-Peak Periods
(Wednesday, August 20/2003)-- Residents of Halifax Regional Municipality wanting to contact the HRM Corporate Call Centre regarding their tax billings, transit route changes, pesticide by-law information or any other civic inquiry are urged to call during off-peak hours (between 2 p.m. and 10 p.m.) for the next few weeks.
The Corporate Call Centre has been experiencing an unusually high volume of telephone inquiries during the past week, due in part to recent the mail-out of approximately 136,000 property tax bills; temporary re-routing of some transit routes as a result of road construction; and the recent infestation of lawns by chinch bug in many neighbourhoods throughout HRM.
The Centre usually handles between 1,200-1,300 inquiries a day-- this past week those volumes have climbed to between 2,200 and 2,500 calls per day.
The HRM Corporate Call Centre operates from 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Due to the number of separate events that have coincided and resulted in the high number of telephone calls from the public, residents are urged to try to place their call during the off-peak hours. This should result in a shorter waiting time and enable call-takers to better deal with the public inquiries.
HRM apologizes to its customers for any longer-than-usual wait times and thanks them for their patience and understanding.
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John O'Brien
Corporate Communications Officer
(902) 490-6531
