Holly Springs’ 311 System Sets Small-Town Benchmark for Customer Service Excellence
Town’s “virtual front door,” launched in 2023, outperforms larger cities and continues to evolve with AI and innovation
Holly Springs, NC, October 18, 2025 — When Holly Springs launched its 311 Office of Customer Care (OCC) in May 2023, the idea was simple: give residents a single, friendly point of contact for town services. Less than two years later, the results have exceeded expectations, putting the town on par with, and in some ways ahead of, much larger cities across North Carolina.
At the Town’s October 14 Town Council workshop, Town Manager Randy Harrington called the system “one of our most successful programs,” crediting it with making town operations more efficient and resident-focused.
A Model for Small-Town Efficiency
The 311 system has quickly become the “virtual front door to Town Hall,” handling everything from street repairs to trash pickup to water billing questions. In fiscal year 2025 alone, it fielded more than 45,000 calls and almost 7,700 service requests, averaging 172 calls per day. Its average wait time of 18 seconds beats or matches major call-center industry standards.
Customer satisfaction scores sit at 4.1 out of 5, roughly 80% positive feedback, which OCC Manager George Brown said the team is proud of. “That’s something we’re very proud of,” he told the Council. “It shows we’re providing a top level of service for our residents.”
Standing Out Among Larger Cities
What makes the success even more notable is Holly Springs’ size. At just over 50,000 residents, the town is the smallest municipality in North Carolina operating a 311 center, joining much larger counterparts like Cary, Charlotte, and Winston-Salem.
Cary’s 311 system, launched years earlier, relies on “Citizen Advocates” to route calls, texts, or emails, and promises responses within one business day. But Cary does not publish detailed public performance data such as average wait times or closure rates.
Charlotte’s “CharMeck 311”, a joint operation with Mecklenburg County, fields over a million calls annually and historically met targets of answering 80 percent of calls within 30 seconds. That is impressive for its scale, but less current public data is available on customer satisfaction or turnaround times.
Winston-Salem’s “CityLink 311” offers multiple channels (app, text, phone), but public reviews are mixed. Some users praise fast emergency response, while others have reported closed tickets without follow-through.
Against that backdrop, Holly Springs’ low average wait time, high satisfaction ratings, and below-two-day average ticket closure place it among the top performers in the state, and that’s with a team of only three to four agents.
Lean Team, Big Results
The OCC team’s small size has created both challenges and opportunities. Each agent fields upward of 50 calls a day while juggling service requests and email responses. Despite that workload, Brown said the team remains efficient thanks to close inter-department coordination, particularly with Public Works and Finance.
“Typically, our phones start ringing at 8:01 a.m.,” Brown said. “Our residents are ready, and so are we.”
Technology and What’s Next
The 311 system continues to evolve. The town recently launched a chatbot that answers common questions using only verified information from the Town website. The next step, Brown said, is to explore AI-assisted tools that could summarize calls, streamline request entry, and identify service trends more quickly.
Another future goal is mapping service-request “hotspots” across town to ensure equitable service delivery. “If we are that virtual front door to Town Hall,” Brown said, “we want to make sure everyone has that same access.”
Looking Forward
Town Council members praised the OCC’s success, calling it a “small-town big-impact” innovation that has raised the standard for local government responsiveness. Several suggested that additional funding be included in next year’s budget to support staffing and technology growth.
With 311 systems in other cities operating at much larger scales, and sometimes struggling with transparency or response consistency, Holly Springs’ data-driven, resident-centered approach stands out.
As Harrington summarized, “It’s helping us serve residents better every day, and that’s exactly what it was designed to do.”
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Holly Springs 311 Offers New East Way to Connect With Town Services