Extra call handlers have been recruited to help the council deal with high numbers of housing calls and complaints from residents unable to get through.
Five workers have been hired by West Dunbartonshire Council to help manage the workload at the contact centre.
It comes after councillors told last year how they were being contacted by members of the public who couldn’t get through to anyone.
Peter Barry, who is the authority’s chief officer for housing and employability, previously said that staff had faced pressures while working remotely with some tasks more difficult than they would be when in the office.
An update was provided to councillors as part of a report which went to a recent meeting.
It read: “We continue to apologise to tenants and councillors for the ongoing issues in relation to the housing repairs telephone contact centre.
“We have previously outlined the challenges of managing complex calls linked to the high number of repairs which building services is working its way through following the pandemic.
“Citizen services have now completed a recruitment process for three additional fixed-term call handlers, plus the recruitment of two further permanent vacancies.
“We remain confident that the combination the three new posts being recruited, the filling of the two permanent posts, the partial return to an office environment, and the continued progress of building services to clear the open repairs will improve the performance of the housing repairs contact centre and the experience for our tenants.”
Dumbarton councillor David McBride said he was pleased to hear additional staff had been hired.
He commented: “All of us would agree that the housing contact repair centre is still the one causing some concern for residents not being able to get through.
“That’s including some urgent cases that’s come my way where people have contacted me.
“I’m pleased to say the issues have been handled and tackled and resolved very quickly by the housing repairs senior managers and staff.”
