Multiple city services, one location.
The City of London officially cut the ribbon on its new service office on the second floor of Citi Plaza on Wellington St. on Wednesday.
The new location brings together social services, parks and recreation, the housing access centre, housing services and administration, and neighbourhood, children and fire services. Previously, these services were spread across several sites in the city.
"It really provides an opportunity for one stop shopping from a customer service perspective," said Mayor Matt Brown. "A big part of our focus as a city council was to make sure that we are improving services right across the city. City services should be as easy as possible to access."
As a way of improving efficiency and collaboration among city staff, the new location includes a shared customer service reception staffed by each service area, and desk-side interview space for Ontario Works and children services’ clients.
Roughly 240 city staffers work in the shared space. The move-in began in mid-March with the last of the employees arriving last week.
Since the services moved to the central location, Managing Director of Parks and Recreation Bill Coxhead said his area has seen an increase in demand.
"You might think recreation might be an odd link but it's really an important link. We do a lot of work with our Ontario Works recipients, making sure that folks have access to recreation because it's important for the benefits of participation and inclusion," said Coxhead. "Typically when you're looking for social services, you're also looking for a recreation subsidy and we can package all of those things right here in one spot. We no longer make somebody run all over town."
Brown also noted the Citi Plaza location is easy for all Londoners to access because of its close proximity to current major public transit routes and the future BRT hub.
"This is part of making sure that we are focused on investing in our core, growing more in-ward and up-ward," said Brown. "So there is all kinds of alignment here between programs like rapid transit, the London plan, and providing better service for Londoners."