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New York City Council
Oversight - New York City’s 311 System
Read summaries and jump into the video at the segment start.
Council staff welcomes attendees to the Committee on Technology hearing, asks devices to be silenced, prohibits approaching the dais, directs witnesses to the sergeant at arms, and invites the chair to begin.
Chair Carmen De La Rosa welcomes attendees to the oversight hearing on NYC 311, describes it as a 24/7 non-emergency connection to city government, and notes its 2003 launch as a centralized call center.
De La Rosa explains that 311 now handles millions of interactions via phone, text, app, and website in more than 175 languages, making it the largest 311 system in the country.
Chair says New Yorkers rely on 311 for issues from parking to heat complaints, that it routes complaints to agencies, and that its data supports open data analysis and resource allocation.
De La Rosa argues 311 must be continually improved and modernized as a tool for accountability and communication between New Yorkers and local government.
Chair lists Intro 173 by Councilmember Dinowitz on GPS coordinates, Intro 669 by Deputy Speaker Williams on traffic complaints to NYPD Transportation Bureau, and Intro 800 by Councilmember Schulman on redirecting requests.
Chair thanks committee staff and recognizes Councilmembers Gutierrez, Dinowitz, and Schulman, noting more than 15 other 311 bills are not being heard today but remain important to the Council.
Councilmember Eric Dinowitz thanks the chair and recounts COVID-era wellness calls where seniors raised quality-of-life issues like noise and sidewalk cracks, showing these concerns persist even during crises.
Dinowitz lists potholes, running hydrants, broken street lamps, flooded homes, and broken park fences as unresolved issues, arguing 311 needs improvement to address safety and dignity.
Dinowitz introduces Intro 173 to require GPS pin-drop location for 311 complaints, citing a missing hydrant repaired down the block, an unaddressed service road, and overpass lights unfixed because location could not be found.
Dinowitz shares more examples of constituents struggling to describe locations, including a blocked sewer and Bell Tower Park sidewalk, and says precise GPS capability would make 311 more efficient and responsive.
Councilmember Lynn Schulman speaks in support of Intro 800, which would create a dedicated 311 category for complaints about city jail conditions and require public tracking and status updates for accountability.
Chair De La Rosa reads a statement from Deputy Speaker Nantasha Williams supporting Intro 669, which would route non-emergency traffic complaints like drag racing, speeding, and truck violations to the NYPD Transportation Bureau.
Chair announces OTI testimony will be followed by public testimony, welcomes Joe Morrisroe, OTI Deputy Commissioner for 311, and staff administers the affirmation to tell the truth.
Joe Morrisroe introduces himself as Deputy Commissioner of NYC 311, notes 20 years overseeing its transformation from call center to multi-channel platform, and says he will discuss operations, successes, and proposed legislation.
Morrisroe says 311 is available 24/7 via call center, online portal, text, app, and social media; received 37 million contacts in 2025; and earned 93% customer satisfaction with 90% likely to recommend.
Morrisroe describes 311 outcomes: providing information, referring externally, or submitting service requests to designated agencies. He says 311 cannot create requests unilaterally and relies on agency partnerships, feedback, and the RSAT dashboard.
Morrisroe says 311 currently collects GPS coordinates when location services are enabled and otherwise uses entered addresses. He supports exploring a pin-drop geolocator with ESRI to identify addresses in agency-required formats.
Morrisroe explains that emergency traffic calls transfer to 911 and non-emergency calls generate service requests routed to NYPD precincts. He says OTI cannot comment on the policy merits and urges Council to discuss with NYPD.
Morrisroe says most service requests are correctly assigned but exceptions exist, such as street cave-ins initially sent to DOT before reassignment. He says information on responsible agency is available within 10 days and 311 is exploring solutions.
Morrisroe thanks the committee on behalf of the 311 team and says he will now take council members' questions.
Chair De La Rosa thanks Morrisroe for 20 years of service, notes the Council has many 311 bills, and contrasts the 93% satisfaction rating with constituents reporting unresolved service requests. She announces questions on staffing.
Chair asks about current headcount. Morrisroe says there are 248 budgeted call center representatives, no dedicated CCRs for the website, and app support is shared across OTI teams; he will follow up with estimates.
Morrisroe says texts are handled manually by call center representatives, automation has been explored but current Q&A works well, there are 53 CCR vacancies, and starting salary is $40,600.
Morrisroe says call takers are not outsourced but 311 uses overflow vendor King Teleservices daily as backup. The contract was extended through February 28, 2027, and he will provide the exact contract value later.
Schulman notes confusion about Intro 800's committee, then asks about new 311 regulations around homelessness. Morrisroe says encampment requests now route exclusively to DSS, while other homeless outreach calls have long gone to DSS.
Schulman asks whether there is a definition of encampment. Morrisroe says 311 provides guidance to call center reps and online, and agrees to share that definition with the committee.
Dinowitz recalls Morrisroe's April 2024 testimony about an ESRI geolocator and asks whether it is now in use. Morrisroe confirms the current state and says work continues with ESRI to collect pin-drop coordinates and pass them to agencies.
Morrisroe says 311 is working with ESRI on a public-facing pin-drop tool that can also deliver coordinates in agency-required formats. Dinowitz says if it is good enough for Uber, it is good enough for New Yorkers.
Dinowitz notes his law required customer satisfaction surveys and says internal surveys show only about 33-35% satisfaction, while Morrisroe cited 93% from a third party. Morrisroe explains the third-party CFI Group survey measures experience with the call center representative, not whether the underlying problem was fixed.
Chair De La Rosa thanks Dinowitz and calls on Councilmember Riley. Riley says a request marked closed does not mean the problem is fixed and asks whether the city measures resolution. Morrisroe explains the RSAT resolution satisfaction survey sent after a service request is closed.
Riley asks whether the city uses 311 data to identify repeated issues like illegal dumping or broken streetlights. Morrisroe says complaints are captured in NYC Open Data and shared with agencies, though he cannot speak to each agency's internal analysis tools.
Councilmember Jennifer Gutierrez asks whether OTI or 311 has been informed about the Office of Community Safety folding in the Office to End Gender-Based Violence and whether call center reps might face delays redirecting calls.
Morrisroe says the Office of Community Safety has visited 311 and discussions are underway. He describes the Agency Relations team, which maintains contacts with every city agency and updates 311 content when policies or programs change.
Gutierrez asks whether all 311 representatives are aware of the Office to End Gender-Based Violence and can direct calls. Morrisroe says reps rely on the content system and he believes the information is there but will confirm.
Gutierrez asks about the app's AI Smart Select tool, whether it was built in-house or by a vendor, and what personal data it captures. Morrisroe says it was built with an MWBE vendor, allows photo or text submissions, and falls under 311's privacy policy.
Chair De La Rosa returns to agency closures, citing noise complaints routed to NYPD that appear closed without resolution. She asks whether 311 was originally a call center model and whether there is any mechanism to hold agencies accountable.
Morrisroe says intake sets expectations with 'what happens next' and due dates, and SLAs are published on Open Data. He says 311 has worked with NYPD to rewrite resolution descriptions in plain language so customers understand agency responses.
De La Rosa notes a request can be closed on 311 while still open at DOT or Parks. Morrisroe says 311 does not close requests; agencies own status. Residents can check status with a confirmation number or through Open Data.
Chair asks whether 311 meets with agencies annually to review patterns. Morrisroe says reviews happen daily, quarterly, and annually through CX, quality assurance, agency analysts, and agency relations, with survey readouts shared with agencies.
Chair notes the app is only in English and asks whether the entire app can be translated. Morrisroe says native app service request forms are English-only, but users can link to the mobile website and use Google Translate.
Chair asks about an RFP on Passport for outsourced contact center services. Morrisroe says the current overflow vendor contract ends February 28, 2027, and the city is soliciting bids for a new contract starting March 1, 2027.
Chair references the August 18, 2026 911 outage after a Motorola update and asks about 311's update process. Morrisroe distinguishes IBM/application development from the Cisco telephony platform and says OTI now uses MWBE contracts for application work.
Morrisroe says software updates go through multiple approvals and change management, with backups and backups-to-backups. He says the 911 outage prompted review of procedures, and 311 evaluates emergencies through its own and NYCEM processes.
Chair asks how 311 detects live failures, noting 911 dispatchers noticed problems manually. Morrisroe says 311 has system alerts and monitoring, including triggers if no calls are received for a set period, which email 24/7 staff.
Chair asks how many 311 operators are fluent in other languages. Morrisroe says only a small number speak Spanish in addition to English, and all other languages rely on third-party interpretation vendor LanguageLine.
Chair asks about staffing surges during emergencies. Morrisroe says 311 uses its contracted overflow vendor to quickly add trained staff, citing weather emergencies and the recent Nor'easter as examples.
Chair asks about current AI plans. Morrisroe says AI is being explored to augment, not replace, call center representatives, including helping agents navigate or pre-populate information, building on older natural language screen-pop technology.
Chair asks why service requests are sometimes deemed outside an agency's jurisdiction. Morrisroe explains reassignments, often by design for cave-ins that DOT assesses before referring to another agency or utility, and says reassignments are about 1% of requests.
Chair asks whether OTI tracks which problems are often marked out of jurisdiction, citing street cave-ins and traffic complaints. Morrisroe says the CX team analyzes reassignments and 311 is looking at improvements, but traffic bureau routing is an NYPD matter.
Chair asks what happens when a request reaches the correct agency but wrong unit. Morrisroe says agencies often handle internal routing, but 311's agency relations team investigates recurring issues and may change forms or routing.
Chair mentions bills to add categories like dog runs and stolen SNAP benefits. Morrisroe explains categories can be added through legislation, internal gap analysis, public suggestions under Local Law 97, or agency requests, all assessed by 311 and agency partners.
Chair asks whether the privacy policy has been updated and what user information is shared. Morrisroe says the policy was strengthened last year, 311 does not share user information, and contact details are only used to fulfill requests like heat complaints.
Chair asks whether mobile app data is encrypted in transit, whether users can delete data, and whether a retention policy exists. Morrisroe says he will follow up on encryption and deletion, and agrees conceptually to work on a retention policy.
Chair asks why domain names are collected and whether the cookie banner lets users opt out of non-essential cookies. Morrisroe says he prefers to have OTI experts provide accurate answers and will follow up.
Chair recalls past testimony about extending 311 to WhatsApp. Morrisroe says it has not launched yet, remains on the roadmap, and challenges include estimating demand, staffing, and reconciling WhatsApp privacy terms with 311 policy.
Chair asks for the end-to-end process under Local Law 97. Morrisroe says public suggestions come to 311, are reviewed by Customer Relations, then agency relations, and agencies decide whether to add a service request; 311 reports annually on progress.
Chair asks about the dynamic between 311 and NYPD when complaints are not fulfilled. Morrisroe says 311 focuses on accurate intake and routing, calibrates regularly with NYPD, and has a dedicated NYPD liaison, but defers to NYPD on outcomes.
Chair asks whether emergency calls to 311 are automatically routed to 911. Morrisroe says training reinforces hot transfers to 911 when there is any suggestion of emergency, with the mantra 'when in doubt, route,' and contracted vendors follow the same protocol.
Chair asks whether 311 has a public education or PSA budget like Notify NYC. Morrisroe says 311 works closely with Notify NYC but has no marketing or outreach budget, which the chair says is worth examining in future budget hearings.
Chair opens public testimony, reminds attendees of decorum, prohibits video recording from the witness table, explains how to submit written testimony, and limits speakers to two minutes on 311 and the three bills.
Ms. Jennings describes years of stalking, assaults, and unanswered 311 calls, saying she has been told to wait two weeks and cannot get help from NYPD or officials. She asks where her 311 calls are going and requests a meeting with the chair.
Chaudhry Hassan Mahmood, a civil service software specialist, testifies that misclassified 311 fire safety complaints can go uninspected and become fires. He calls for FDNY and OTI to report on closed-without-inspection rates and classification error rates.
Chair asks if anyone else registered to testify is on Zoom, finds no one, thanks all witnesses, and adjourns the hearing.