Amarillo 311

Partly. The City runs an "Amarillo 311 Contact Center" inside its Utility Billing department, which answers general questions and calls for about a dozen departments; the budget counts 62,361 calls to its "311 (Operator)" line in 2024/25. The City's 911 center still lists 806-378-3038 as the non-emergency number, and no coverage or City page on file reports when, or whether, dialing 3-1-1 was switched on.^3,4

The City's Emergency Communications Center lists 806-378-3038 for non-emergencies and 9-1-1 for emergencies. Utility Billing is at (806) 378-3030.^4,27

Councilmember Mark Nair proposed it in 2016 to take non-emergency calls off 911. Officials said in January 2017 that about 80% of calls to the 911 center were not emergencies, and that the website and phone system would be paid for with savings from past infrastructure projects. A preliminary version was targeted for October 2016; in early 2017 the City was waiting on Public Utility Commission approval.^1,2,13

The utility billing director told the council that August 2026 calls waited 38 minutes 18 seconds on average, against 5 minutes 12 seconds in August 2025, though calls fell from 21,509 to 18,319. Agents taking calls averaged 9.6 a day, down from 18.2, which she attributed to turnover. Callers to 311 with billing questions are routed to the utility billing line. The budget reports 53% of contact-center calls handled within three minutes in 2024/25, down from 70% in 2021/22.^5,6,3,9

The Utility Billing department. 311 positions sat in the IT department's Telecom division until the 2022/23 budget moved them to Utility Billing, whose contact center took on calls for other departments. The proposed 2026/27 budget lists 11 call center agents, 2 leads and a supervisor.^8,3

NICE inContact (CXone) cloud call center software, bought through AT&T, with services from Globalscope and process software from ProcedureFlow. IT budget narratives described Tyler EnerGov as covering "enablement of 311," and in 2022 the IT department said MyGovernmentOnline could replace the City's EnerGov and 311 applications.^{21,23,24,15,10}

Council actions on file approved $685,214.96 for call center software and services between 2019 and 2025: $352,188 for inContact through AT&T, $70,693.01 in licenses to bring 311 staff into Utility Billing's call center, $198,208.80 to Globalscope and $64,125.15 for ProcedureFlow (our sum). The City also bought software that listed 311 among other uses: Tyler EnerGov (2017, amount not reported), MyGovernmentOnline ($270,700.08 for two years) and Emma (up to $582,948.89). The check registers record $155,996.98 paid to NICE inContact and $380,525.15 to Globalscope in the registers on file, which run from July 2022 to July 2026.^{21,22,23,24,18,25,26,28}

The call center is: 311 agents answer general questions inside Utility Billing. The records on file don't show the other parts. No record reports 3-1-1 dialing or the reporting app launching, the 911 center still answers non-emergency calls on its own number, and the software the City named for "enablement of 311", first Tyler EnerGov and then MyGovernmentOnline, went into use for permits. No release or budget describes a 311 request system on either.^{3,4,16,8,9,20}

The council's 2023 award to Dell describes Emma as supporting "website, digital literacy, and 311 functions." Emma answers questions on the City website; the contact center answers phone calls.²⁶

In 2016 the City described a 311 mobile app for reporting potholes, streetlights, graffiti and illegal dumping with a photo and location. No record on file reports that app launching; a 2021 opinion piece said Amarillo had no 311 system.^1,14