Committee OKs renewal with United Way to handle after-hours 311 calls; adds legislative authority to renewal options

The Committee approved emergency ordinance 367-2026 to authorize a one-year contract (with two one-year renewal options) with United Way of Greater Cleveland to route 311 after-hours calls and provide after-hours call coverage for the city’s 311 operations.

The 311 director (identified in the transcript as Kate) described the relationship as a long-standing partnership that helps route urgent after-hours calls to on-call staff, citing windstorm and snow events as examples when after-hours volume spiked. "211 handled about 20,000 calls for 311 last year. For comparison, we handled 150,000 calls in our own center," Kate said, noting that United Way handles a relatively small segment of total volume but provides critical after-hours routing and access to the city’s knowledge base and ticketing system.

Council members pressed for additional data and protections: requests included ward-level breakdowns, department-level ticketing detail, call-priority categories, and assurances about language access (Kate said United Way uses the same language line as the city and that the 311 center has one Spanish-speaking call taker). Councilman Brian Kazy raised cost concerns tied to call-volume escalators in the contract; committee records show the contract includes potential price increases if monthly call volume exceeds an agreed threshold, and committee members discussed monitoring to avoid hitting escalation triggers.

Councilman Kazy offered an amendment requiring that renewal options be exercisable "with legislative authority." The amendment was seconded, discussed briefly with the Law Department and committee staff for placement in section one, and approved by voice vote. The committee then approved the ordinance as amended.

The committee directed staff to provide ward- and department-level breakdowns of 311 tickets and indicated the director will continue to monitor call volumes and report as requested.