In December 2006, Mayor Mark Boughton created CityLine 311, thus providing Danbury’s residents with an efficient and convenient means of relaying their concerns and suggestions. In the past year, the CityLine 311 Call Center received more than 12,000 calls, emails, letters, and in-person requests from residents looking to input a service request or inquiring about free and dependable information.

The city encourages the residents of Danbury to be proactive in the care for their neighborhood and to alert CityLine 311 whenever areas of concern are noted. Even if residents are unsure if a notice of violation is warranted, an inspector will be sent out to investigate and clarify the situation. Your involvement with the preservation of the quality of life in Danbury is essential to not only efficient and effective government response, but also to the continued prosperity that is sought by all. The city greatly relies on, and appreciates, the community’s partnership and support and the 311 service line is the best means by which this mutually-beneficial relationship can continue to thrive.

Residents who wish to input a service request can simply dial 3-1-1 from their home phone, to speak to a public service representative, or visit the 311 website by following the link on Danbury’s homepage to input a request electronically. If your wireless or landline phone carrier cannot directly access the City’s 3-1-1 Call Center, you can reach our department by dialing 203-744-4311. By providing your email address and activating the notification link, you will receive automated updates as well as your service request ID tracking number. In 2011 the Danbury Direct app launched for iPhone owners while 2012 saw the launch of Danbury Direct for Android-enabled phones. These apps afford residents another convenient means of reporting their concerns to the 311 Call Center and show that the city of Danbury is proactive in making government more accessible to the public.

Our Accomplishments:

While residents continued to utilize CityLine 311 for a variety of information on services such as City events, leaf pick-up, street sweeping, pothole repair, and street paving; the greatest accomplishment of the past year was the immediate response and information updates that were available to residents following the storms and subsequent power outages. Being with the unrelenting snowstorms of January and February 2011, more than 2,000 calls were placed while March saw more than 800 placed after the floods in the beginning of the month. The summer saw relative ease until Tropical Storm Irene brought more than 2,400 calls and inquiries relating to power outages, road closures, and flooding. Just as Danbury began to recover from Irene, Winter Storm Alfred hit in late October, bringing a total of 3,000 additional calls through the end of the year as residents sought updates on power outages, restoration, and branch removal. The 311 Call Center was open during weekend hours, as needed, to provide residents with updates on city responses to the myriad of emergencies that struck Danbury during 2011.

Residents experience the success of 311 by having their questions answered quickly, as well as initiating other departments within City Hall to address their concerns through frequent communication. The 311 Call Center encourages residents who see potholes, dangerous tree limbs, dead animals, malfunctioning traffic lights, blight issues, and drainage problems, as they are happening to call 3-1-1 so the situation can be logged. Information is then sent to the correct department and the problem is corrected as soon as possible with the appropriate updates being sent to the resident. Although employees of the City of Danbury are proactive, they cannot be everywhere at once and welcome and encourage notification of issues, regardless of how trivial they may appear to the resident.

The Knowledge Base Resource Center, which was created by a joint effort of the 311 Call Center with the city’s respective department heads, remains a valuable resource for the residents of Danbury who are looking for information at times when 311 is not available. The Knowledge Base provides residents with immediate answers to their questions and can be updated immediately should a resident have a question that is not outlined in the Knowledge Base and is also continuously monitored to ensure that the information provided is consistent, relevant, and no longer dated.