Ocean Grove’s City of Greater Geelong customer service centre will close for good following an announcement by the City today.
The centre at the Ocean Grove Library complex, along with the Waurn Ponds, Belmont and Geelong West offices have been closed since March 2020 due to the pandemic and will not reopen.
Instead the City is encouraged to pay bills and access general information, simple forms and transactions via its website and call centre.
Council said strategically located customer service centres will be retained to provide in-person assistance for residents with more complex, personal inquiries at Corio, Drysdale and central Geelong.
Brougham St’s Customer Service Centre will be replaced by the purpose-built facility in Wurriki Nyal, when it opens in mid-2022.
The Geelong Regional Library Corporation will be taking over the vacated spaces, for a host of community activities
Greater Geelong Deputy Mayor Trent Sullivan said the needs of customers – and how they choose to interact with the City – had been progressively changing in recent years.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the transition to online and phone services, and seen permanent habits formed,” Cr Sullivan said.
“It is incumbent on us to adapt and continually improve our customer service to the community.”
Before the pandemic, 54 per cent of visitors to a customer service centre were there only to pay a bill, the City said.
Cr Anthony Aitken, Chair of the Finance portfolio, said the changes were part of a wider plan to provide better experiences for customers, by:
– Reducing service costs by providing customers with cost-efficient channels
– Reducing the need for visits through improved online and telephone options
– Shifting simple inquiries online and/or to the phone
– Reducing call volumes through improved first contact resolution; and
– Reducing physical infrastructure costs.
“The overall plan is aimed at directing our resources to the areas of greatest need,” Cr Aitken said.
“We are focused on continually improving our online and telephone service, to reduce the need for visits.
“We recognise that more personal and complex requests will continue to require in-person service and we will have specialist staff on hand to assist those customers.”
