Abstract Manager

This presentation will focus on Toronto's Service Delivery Review which is centred on identifying gaps in the City's maintenance and delivery services, determine which services should be in-house vs contracted and to update all service levels and 3-1-1 problem codes.

Toronto residents don’t experience City operations as “contracts,” “service levels,” or “divisional mandates.” They experience outcomes: a repaired pothole, a plowed bike lane, a response that makes sense when they call 3-1-1. When expectations and outcomes don’t line up—especially during high-visibility events like major winter storms—public trust can erode quickly. This presentation shares how the City of Toronto is strengthening public trust and satisfaction by redesigning service delivery from the customer’s perspective, while staying grounded in operational realities and budget constraints.

Toronto is undertaking a comprehensive Service Delivery Review across contracted services to improve clarity, consistency, and accountability. The work includes reviewing the full suite of contracted and in-house operations and maintenance activities, updating service levels to better reflect what residents value and what can realistically be delivered, and modernizing 3-1-1 problem codes so the “language of the City” aligns with the “language of the public.” These changes are not cosmetic: clearer service standards, simpler intake pathways, and better categorization of requests directly improve response efficiency, performance reporting, and—most importantly—resident understanding of what to expect and when.

The session will highlight the practical methods we’re using to balance customer requests, public expectations, and operational constraints. We’ll walk through: (1) how we are translating complex operational work into plain-language commitments; (2) how we are making service levels easier to communicate and measure; (3) how redesigned 3-1-1 codes reduce friction and improve triage; and (4) how engagement approaches—beyond traditional surveys—help residents see the “why” behind decisions. A key example is Jane’s Walk, where we partner across teams to demystify city services through community-led storytelling, giving residents a window into how maintenance work is prioritized and delivered.