After failing to convince the City Council to fund a $9 million customer-service system in his last budget proposal, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels announced a customer bill of rights today.

The mayor answered a few calls at Seattle Public Utilities' call center during a news conference, helping a utility customer switch services for a move and deferring answer to a copyright request to reuse information on the city's Web site about allergen-free cleaning solvents.

The mayor, who described himself as a "nervous wreck" after taking the calls, then introduced Maureen Murphy, who works in the call center. Murphy said she was helping a woman in south Seattle read her meter a few years ago when she heard a scream and the phone went dead. After dialing back a few times -- and asking her supervisor for permission -- Murphy called 911. Turns out the woman, Mako Nakagawa, had suffered a brain aneurysm. Nakagawa, also at the news conference, said she owed her life to Murphy.
Nickels said the city is "looking to take the quality of work (at the utilities' call center) and make it a standard across the city whenever anyone contacts us."

Staff have already started working on complaints about abandoned vehicles, and have reduced response time from a week to a day by directing those calls to the utilities' call center. Nickels says he plans to ask the City Council in his Monday budget address to direct more general fund money to the call center so rate payers aren't subsidizing unrelated customer service for the city.
The customer bill of rights says city services should be, 1. Easy and understandable, 2. Responsive, 3. Fair, and 4. Results oriented.