Salem Goes Live To Connect Residents Directly To City Services

SALEM, MA — Help with Salem municipal services is now just a phone call away — at one number, with a real, live operator — during regular business hours.

Salem on Wednesday launched Salem 311, which connects anyone in the city to a live operator during business hours by dialing 3-1-1. The operator can take service requests, answer questions and connect callers to additional information so they can get the help they need.

The line will be operational Mondays through Wednesdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Fridays from 8 a.m. to noon.

"Salem has consistently strived to find new and more effective ways to connect residents with city services," Mayor Kim Driscoll said. "Salem 311 will offer another tool by which Salem residents can share reports about issues with city departments and ask questions about municipal services and programs.

"I'm grateful to the city staff who have worked diligently over the past several months to get this new program into place and I hope residents will make use of this new option for connecting with their city government."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)