Just 36% on time: Water and parks cases lag in ATL311 report

Atlanta’s water and parks departments each recorded a 36% on-time case-closure rate for July through October, down from the same four months last year, according to the Department of Customer Service’s November 10 update to the City Council’s Finance/Executive Committee.⁠[1][2]

Watershed Management’s rate fell from 51% to 36% even as its listed caseload declined from 12,932 to 11,646. Parks and Recreation’s rate dropped from 47% to 36%, while its caseload grew from 1,849 to 2,018. Those are declines of 15 and 11 percentage points, respectively.⁠[1]

Other departments moved in the opposite direction. Public Works’ on-time closure rate rose from 73% to 82%, and Transportation’s climbed from 28% to 49%. That improvement still left Transportation below the halfway mark.⁠[1]

The yardstick matters: each department sets the service-level agreements used to judge its services. The fulfillment table does not spell out the individual deadlines or show whether they changed between years, and it does not explain why the departments’ results diverged. The figures therefore describe performance against departmental targets—not a common citywide deadline.⁠[1]

Case closure also should not be read as proof that every underlying problem was fixed. The update separately tracks escalations for “premature closure.” Public Works recorded 134 of those escalations, down from 410 in the comparison period; Transportation recorded 32, down from 45.⁠[1]

For residents seeking non-emergency city services, ATL311 lists operating hours of 7 a.m. to midnight Monday through Friday and phone numbers 311 or 404-546-0311. Its other contact channels include ATL311.com, a chatbot and live-agent chat.⁠[1]