Introducing an online city complaint system that talks back — in a good way. The new interactive system, called ACTION, allows people to register a complaint or concern with the city and alerts them to each action by officials until the complaint is resolved.

The program, now up and running on the city’s Web site, also is a place to make service requests or read about city ordinances in layman’s terms. ACTION stands for Acting with Citizens to Improve our Neighborhoods.

Mayor Coleen Seng, who announced the system’s deployment Thursday, said it will provide more transparency by allowing people to know the status of complaints as they are processed.

“I think one thing that’s so frustrating for citizens is they don’t know what’s happening,” Seng said. “With this system, they will find out what’s really going.”

The idea for the system originated in 2002 when the city was developing an internal constituent services tracking system, Seng said. Neighborhood organizations, including Larry Zink with the Lincoln Neighborhood Alliance, have been working with the mayor’s office for the past two years on ACTION.

“Up to this point, it’s been fairly difficult for the average citizen to know who to talk to about a specific problem,” Zink said. “That was our goal, to make it more easily accessible to the average person.”

Inevitably, he said, the city will need time to work out any glitches with the software, but he encouraged people to use the system and report problems when they occur.

People can access the system by clicking on the “Service Request” icon at the city’s homepage, www.lincoln.ne.gov. They then can choose from a list of topics or departments to file a complaint or request government services.

Terry Lowe, systems coordinator for the city’s information services division, said most items can be submitted anonymously but registering is what allows a person to follow the request through the system and receive e-mail alerts.

Lowe wouldn’t speculate on whether the new system would result in an increase of complaints to the city but did anticipate a 5 to 10 percent shift in the number of other kinds of communication with the city — phone and fax, for example — now being sent to the new system.

Lincoln’s system was modeled on Tampa, Florida’s “customer service center,” said Lowe, a similar but somewhat broader government system that also tracks communication with the city from around the world.

Diane Jamai, coordinator of operations for the city of Tampa, said their program was developed, first and foremost, with ease of use in mind. As with Lincoln’s new system, users are updated each step of the way.

Since debuting in 2003, efficiency has increased dramatically as the Tampa program has worked as a clearinghouse for information for all the city’s departments, Jamai said. The system also automatically reroutes city requests to county agencies when appropriate, which happens about two-thirds of the time, she said.

“It’s a change in thought to be totally open,” Jamai said. “It takes the guesswork out of government.”

Reach Rachael Seravalli at 473-7120 or rseravalli@journalstar.com.

Online complaints

As part of a new online city complaint system, residents can lodge complaints using the city’s Web site, www.lincoln.ne.gov.

For example, if you’d like to complain about a barking dog, simply log onto the Web site. Click on the “Service Request” icon. A pull-down menu will appear, allowing you to choose a complaint topic or city department with which to register a complaint. After you’ve submitted your complaint, you can later check on the complaint’s progress.