Covert mission targets city’s customer service

Erin Neff

Wednesday, July 5, 2000 | 11:24 a.m.

Attention City Hall shoppers: That person next to you in line for a building permit might be a spy.

The secret agents won't have James Bond's panache or Austin Powers' international intrigue. But posing as developers and average residents, the undercover agents will have similar intelligence-gathering duties.

A "mystery shopper" program, similar to ones used by corporate America to test customer service in department and grocery stores, will quietly creep into Las Vegas city departments this month.

The stealth shoppers will visit the Building & Safety, Business Services, Detention & Enforcement, Fire & Rescue, Human Resources, Information Technologies, Leisure Services, Municipal Court, Neighborhood Services, Planning & Development and Public Works departments.

"I'm personally thrilled," said Sharon Segerblom, the city's Neighborhood Services director. "I think my department gives really good customer service, but it's good to have the outside input."

Dan Musgrove, a city administrative specialist, said such programs are proven forms of customer-oriented research. He researched a similar Georgia program when a city made increased accountability one of its prime goals.

Customer Services Accountability Inc. will provide the spies to the city for $7,800. After about six months of infiltration, CSA will give the city a full report on its strengths and weaknesses.

CSA was formed to administer a successful pilot program in Georgia in 1997. The University of Georgia's Institute of Government partnered with Shop 'n Chek Inc. of Atlanta to determine citizens' shopping experiences.

That program has since been expanded to focus on local governments and has shown that the citizens have the most contact with "the lowest-paid, shortest-tenured, entry-level employee."

"Because any given citizen only has a periodic contact with government personnel, those few experiences are greatly influential in that citizen's perception of the quality of local governmental services," Musgrove wrote in a report he will present to the council today.

Spies will also visit the offices of the City Council, mayor, city manager and city clerk.

During a recent speech to city employees receiving service awards, Mayor Oscar Goodman told the veteran workers that everyone at Las Vegas City Hall is only as good as his or her last act or decision.

"At the keystone of what we're trying to accomplish is service," Goodman said.

His comments June 22 came just a day after Goodman apologized to Rabbi Moshe Omer for the city's behavior in enforcing a code the rabbi was violating by holding religious services in his home.

Omer was handcuffed and driven downtown in a police car after refusing to sign a zoning ordinance on a Saturday, the Sabbath day on which Orthodox Jews are forbidden by their beliefs to write or ride in a car.

Goodman cited the case as an example of how the city could improve customer service.

"The easiest thing to do if you make a mistake is to say 'I'm sorry' and move on to the next thing," Goodman said.

He also said he thought the mystery shopper program will identify other city areas in which customer service can be improved through training or additional resources.

"We're starting a mystery shopper program where moles will actually help tell us what kind of job we're doing," Goodman told employees.