Customer service at the city of Jackson Water Sewer Billing Administration came up during a town hall meeting meant to focus on the city’s garbage contract.
A Jackson resident told Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba she receives acceptable customer service when she contacts Entergy or Atmos Energy but that’s not true at the Water Sewer Billing Administration at Metrocenter.
“It causes so much anger when you walk in and you’re treated like you’re nobody that you say, ‘I’m not going back,’” said the woman who volunteered that she has lived at the same address in Jackson for 47 years.
She went on to complain: “Something is wrong if you cannot hire people that know how to talk to other people. They act like everybody is on welfare. Everybody is not on welfare.
“They think we want something for free. We want to pay what we owe.”
Lumumba sympathized. “No one deserves to have that experience,” he said.
He explained that some residents have received incorrect water bills or may not have received a bill because of faulty water meters or other equipment that has malfunctioned.
In 2020, the city reached an $89.9 million settlement with Siemens and subcontractors related to their faulty work on the infrastructure and improvements are being made.
Utility Metering Solutions is in the process of installing new residential meters that will replace defective ones throughout the city. An advanced metering infrastructure system that will receive data from the water meters and transmit it to the billing software is also going in.
A new water billing customer portal, which can be accessed via a cell phone or tablet, allows a customer to check on water usage, view his or her current bill and billing history, pay his or her water bill with a credit card, set up automatic payments and contact the water department via email.
Lumumba touted the hiring of Fidelis Malembeka Jr. as the city’s chief financial officer and Louis P. Wright as the chief administrative officer, both of whom have professional experiences he considers will be useful to the city.
A graduate of Jackson State University, Malembeka worked for the local McDonald’s Franchise, My Joy Inc., where he had oversight of the company’s human resources functions and then oversight of all administrative and strategic financial functions. His organizational successes included the operational and financial turnaround of the Jackson McDonald’s market, which saw sales grow in five years from $25 million annually to $50 million annually.
“He was able to make a seismic shift in what was considered the worst market in the company to one where they were able to acquire talent,” Lumumba said of Malembeka.
Wright, also a JSU graduate, worked at Mississippi Power and Light Co.., now Entergy, in various areas that include accounting, marketing and human resources roles. He was a customer service manager responsible for resolving customer complaints, working with commercial accounts and maintaining a positive relationship with government officials and constituents in the greater Jackson area.
Malembeka told residents at the town hall meeting that he would like to gather feedback from residents.
“We have to hear from our customers and take information and have accountability measures,” he said. “I come from an industry that says customers are always right. We have to have that mentality.”
Malembeka went on to say that anyone who works for the city should be committed to providing exceptional services and that the city is restructuring how some departments are organized so it can address customer service issues.
A culture shift in customer service is needed, Lumumba said, that includes performance reviews and additional training for employees, items he hopes Malembeka and Wright can help implement.
Virgi Lindsay, who represents Ward 7 on the city council, acknowledges the Water Sewer Billing Administration face challenges but there are employees committed to helping residents.
“I do think we have hardworking people who work to solve problems every day,” she said.
