Team honoured for going ‘above and beyond’

If your dog is missing, your bin needs replacing, or a storm has left a pothole that’s driving you crazy, these are the people who are ready to listen and help.

It’s Sunshine Coast Council’s Customer Response team and it responds to 260,000 contacts a year, including calls, emails, texts and counter enquiries.

Now, it has been recognised as the best in the land, winning the Customer Service Team of the Year (Medium/20-100 staff) at the Australian Service Excellence Awards.

The winner of this category must deliver a demonstrated improvement to customer service delivery/business performance and create a benchmark for service.

Council’s Customer Response Team is a trusted source of advice for locals about roads, potholes, animals, parks, trees and disaster response.

The Customer Response team celebrate at the award ceremony.

Customer Response Manager Shanagh Jacobs said she was very proud of the team’s commitment to helping their community.

“The team puts customers at the centre of everything they do, so being recognised for going above and beyond every day, means so much.

“They are also incredible advocates for making sure our Council teams on-the-ground get the information they need to deliver a wide range of important services,” Ms Jacobs said.

“Answering residents’ queries can be a challenging job, but it’s also incredibly rewarding to help people find solutions.

“The Customer Response Team is often called on to help with all manner of questions and complaints.

“For example, the team was asked recently whether Council had any jurisdiction over the colour a house could be painted.

“Our team lives its values and is high performing, sustainable, innovative and community focused, marked by great people, good governance and regional leadership.”

There are a number of avenues available to contact Council.

• Phone (07) 5475 7272 (24 hours a day 7 days a week)
• Online request for services via an online form
• Email [email protected] 
• In person at one of our service counters (business hours only)
• SMS (business hours only)
• Web callback (business hours only).