Episode 74: Laura Murray (Constituent Services Director, City of Watertown)
Meet Laura Murray! She's the Constituent Services Director for the city of Watertown, which means she runs the 311 service center. In this conversation we chat about her early customer service lessons from a pizza shop to insurance call centers where she discovered she enjoys helping people even through their angry or confused moments. Then we get into what is 311, what went into launching the service, what are the most frequent questions she gets, success stories, and things she's learned through answering questions about city processes every day.
Released February 11th, 2026
(Click here to listen on streaming apps) (Full transcript below)
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Contact Laura and 311 (including now through text!):
-Phone: Call 311 (or 617-458-8311 if outside the city)
-Text: Send a message to 617-458-8311
-Email: 311@watertown-ma.gov
-App: Use the Watertown MA mobile app for non-emergency requests
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Thanks to podcast promotional partner the Watertown Business Coalition, a nonprofit organization focused on connecting local businesses and strengthening our community. Check them out at watertownbusinesscoalition.com.
Thanks to promotional partner Watertown News, a Watertown-focused online newspaper. Check them out at watertownmanews.com.
Thank you Arsenal Financial for sponsoring Little Local Conversations! Listen to my Watertown Trivia episode with Arsenal Financial’s Doug Orifice to have some fun learning about Watertown!
This program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
Transcript
Matt: 0:07
Hi there. Welcome to the Little Local Conversations Podcast. I'm your host, Matt Hanna. Every episode, I sit down for a conversation with someone to discover the people, places, stories, and ideas of Watertown. This time I sat down with Laura Murray, who is the Constituent Services Director for the City of Watertown. So let her introduce herself and then we'll get into the conversation.
Laura: 0:27
My name is Laura Murray. I am the Constituent Services Director for the City of Watertown, which means that I run the 311 Service Center. So all non-emergency requests, informational questions, even sometimes like, what time is the game on on Sunday, calls come through my office. And we assist people if it's just getting them to the right person to talk to or getting them the answer right then and there, or even just putting in a request for our DPW to take care of at another time. We help people and make sure that they get the right answers.
Matt: 1:03
Awesome. Well, we'll get into that so people can learn about that. It's been around for about as long as you have. But first, I always like to get a little bit of background on the person. So are you from the area? Where did you grow up? That little bit.
Laura: 1:15
Yeah, so I am actually from Newton, Newton Corner, so a hop, skip, and a jump away, pretty much. But I moved to Watertown 13 years ago. I actually live very close to City Hall. So my walk commute is about two minutes. I will say them redoing Saltonstall Park has made that.
Matt: 1:36
Doubled your commute.
Laura: 1:38
A minute longer. But once the fence is down, we'll be okay. I think it will be fine.
Matt: 1:43
Nice. Well, I'm sorry for your 50% increase there.
Laura: 1:47
Very upsetting.
Matt: 1:49
Yeah. Everyone feels the construction around town. So you can commiserate with people when they call in.
Laura: 1:55
Oh, yeah, definitely.
Matt: 1:56
Yeah. And how did you get into this field of work? What was your interest in that? How did that come about for you?
Laura: 2:03
I actually don't think there's been a time where I haven't been in customer service. I started in high school working at the local pizza shop, taking orders and all that. Then I moved on to working for Whole Foods. I worked there for a while. Then I got my first call center job shortly after that.
Matt: 2:24
Quick question. Craziest pizza shop customer you had.
Laura: 2:28
Ooh. We had a lot. I worked in Chestnut Hill, so it got a little crazy.
Matt: 2:33
Or craziest request you ever got?
Laura: 2:35
Yeah. Ooh, that's a good question. It was a long time ago, but let me think. Oh, okay. So at this point, we had a full restaurant. It was like a six o'clock on a Thursday night, which everyone's ordering out. Everyone doesn't want to cook at this point of the week. We had a full line almost out the door of people ordering food. We had someone come up and order one of our $5 cheese pizzas. That's what we were famous for. I worked at Camilla's. Everyone loved the $5 cheese pizzas. Her cheese pizza didn't come out in five minutes because obviously it was like a full store at this point. And I got screamed at for 15 minutes until her pizza came out. So that was fun. It was a good time. High expectations.
Matt: 3:24
It builds you up.
Laura: 3:25
Yeah, exactly.
Matt: 3:26
In my first food customer service job, I worked at a Wendy's when I was like, you know, 14. And I remember having someone come and throw a burger at me and yell at me. I didn't even make the burger. I'm just the person at the front. So yeah, but what did you learn from those experiences about dealing with people?
Laura: 3:43
I would just say that most of the time people are just upset with the situation. They either had a bad day or are mad at some sort of outcome. They're never truly mad at me. And I honestly find it super rewarding just getting people kind of past that point of being upset. Okay, yes, you may be upset at this second, but like, what can I do to help you fix this? Let's get you to that place. Let's get you that answer. Yeah, it's honestly just, I like helping people and getting them past that point and actually helping them is more rewarding in the end because you went from someone who probably isn't having that great of a moment or that great of a day to at least having some sort of resolution or seeing some sort of resolution.
Matt: 4:31
So then, so sorry, I cut you off in the middle of your journey there. So what were some other of your jobs from there that were customer service related?
Laura: 4:38
Yeah, I had my first call center job, which honestly was, it was a whirlwind. It was the first private sector job that I had that was run by a really young CEO. We closed early once a month on a Friday, just so they could throw us a themed party. It was one of those jobs where I learned a lot for what I was doing. We were helping people get long-term care insurance benefits, which is kind of insane. It takes like at least two to three years for anyone to really get it. And it always goes to a hearing, which I had no idea about. But it was just kind of my foot in the door with customer service and call centers. I loved the people that I worked with. It was just a really young run company, and it was like almost like not as crazy. What's that movie with Leonardo DiCaprio? Wolf on Wall Street. It's not as crazy as Wolf on Wall Street, but was like kind of esque. And I was like, hmm, this is wild, but okay, like I'm gonna work, I'll get my work done, I'll learn as much as I can. I actually want to help these people. So, like, what can I do to continue to help?
Laura: 5:52
This job actually, we ended up training a bunch of people in the Philippines. They ended up laying a bunch of people off because the Philippines reps kind of took those roles instead. I stayed on, and there was literally only like 10 of us left from like the 200 that used to work there. And I was like, I don't feel that secure here. I feel like my job could go at any day. I think it's time to move on. And I started working for a company called Assure Care. We helped people with long-term care insurance. And I actually was there for eight years. It was like a very small homegrown company. Like I knew both CEOs very well. I could talk to them anytime I wanted to. There was two sides of the business. One side was we had a service that helped pay caregivers. The other side of the business was a service that utilized their timesheets to submit to long-term care so people could get reimbursed with their benefits. Long-term care was always the reimbursement type thing. And I was there for a while. We ended up getting bought out by this medical technology company called LivTech. And LivTech is where I kind of took on more of a role of running the call center, which was awesome. I think I was ready for that working out of Assure Care, but it was just so small, it was kind of hard to get there. But once we became part of LivTech, we had a bunch of different healthcare technologies. So I ended up running a call center for four different healthcare technologies. Some that had to do with Medicaid, Medicare, the one with Assure Care that paid caregivers, and then submitting to long-term care insurance as well.
Matt: 7:40
So you weren't doing quick phone calls?
Laura: 7:42
Nope. Definitely not. And it was always like elderly. So it was really people who had to use technology in order to get these reimbursements. And technology was something that was really hard for them, right? So it was just trying to make sure that they knew what they needed to do, getting them through that, and making sure that any benefits questions, like we couldn't answer that, right? We could get them to the right place. But yeah, that's where I learned how to dive into data. That's where I learned about dashboards, the different types of technology to use for contact centers. So, like what a CRM is and how it counts your calls, how it makes averages, how you meet an SLA or you don't meet an SLA, the percentage of abandon rate. All of that came from that job and working underneath the manager that I had. Her name was Elena Bell. She was incredible. And our COO, Nick Easley, he really taught me everything I knew. He was one of the people who went into the T and he was called a transformation specialist, and he made them go paperless, which is so cool.
Laura: 8:57
But they really taught me everything that I know. And at that point, I was like, okay, I've been doing this for a while. I feel like I've learned enough to kind of step out and branch out on my own. And I decided to see if there were any jobs here because I lived so close by. And I interviewed here and I loved Emily. I loved George. I feel like we connected right away. And I think it's important to feel a connection with the people that you work for. Like it just makes you want to do better, right? Like it makes you want to work so hard because you're like, oh, you're great. You're smart. I want to absorb all I can from you, and I want to do great work for you. And we connected immediately, and then here I am. And now I launched the 311 Service Center a little over two years ago now.
Matt: 9:45
Yeah. So what is 311?
Laura: 9:48
Yeah. So 311 is essentially all non-emergency services, something that you wouldn't call 911 for. And come to find out, when I first started, a lot of people were calling 911 for these reasons. So if there's a pothole, a dead animal on the road, if there's a noise complaint, anything that really doesn't need immediate attention right here, right now, needs to get done, comes through our office. So people can call us, people can email us. We have our text messaging feature coming out as well, where people are going to be able to text us directly. Very excited about that. And even if it's just like, I missed this meeting, how do I see the information? Or I want to come to this meeting, what's on the agenda? Even if it's just, hey, I'm trying to get a permit to do work on my house and I don't even know where to start. Where do I go? We're really just like a one-stop shop of either getting people to the right place or getting them the answers, or like I said, putting in those requests so someone can take care of the issue that they have at hand.
Matt: 11:02
Yeah. And you have the experience with more complicated, detailed things. So that probably helps with some of these city processes.
Laura: 11:10
Definitely. One thing that I learned when I came here is that I am the type of person that I need to document absolutely everything. And maybe I don't have to go back to that documentation, but just the act of writing it down step by step and making sure it's there in case I ever need to look at it again. One thing I've learned about working in the public sector is there are things that will happen maybe once every seven years, and you will never get that question again. And you're like, excuse me, what did you ask? Okay, yes, let me figure that out for you. And once I find that out, I'm like, yep, I am writing this down just in case maybe Bob or Tom call in two years asking the same exact thing. So that was probably the first part of setting up the 311 Service Center is really just working with the departments to be like, what do you do? What can I help with? Like what informational questions can I take off your plate that's accurate in what you're actually doing? And just like building out, I use SharePoint, it's a Microsoft product, but just like building out a page of documentation that has kind of everything that we do every day.
Matt: 12:22
Yeah. So if someone calls in with a question about like some DPW related thing, so you have keywords to find those answers in your documents.
Laura: 12:31
Yep. So we can search anything in SharePoint. If we have it documented, it's in there. If we don't have the answer, we're gonna find the answer and get back to them. I think that's another thing that's so good about 311 and the service. It's like DPW's in the field, right? They're out filling the potholes. They're out making sure the recycling is getting picked up. They're out, I don't know, like cutting the grass. They are out doing things at all times. This takes that part of communicating back off of them because they have a lot of other things that they need to be doing, you know? So instead of me saying, okay, I'm gonna ask this question, can you answer them? It's like, no, I'm gonna ask you this question, give me the answer. I'm gonna reach back out to them so they've gotten their answer and we're closing that loop back with them.
Matt: 13:26
What were some of the most surprising questions that popped up at first that you're like, I don't know, you didn't expect to come up?
Laura: 13:33
That's a good question. I think I learned a lot about, I had never really dived into assessments or anything that had to do with that. I didn't know what a residential exemption was. I think I sat down with Earl and was like, can you just explain this to me, like word by word, how this works? I didn't understand the excise tax abatements. So, like, say you sold your car, but you forgot to tell the RMV, or you never changed your address at the RMV at the right time. You're gonna get an excise tax from Watertown. Here's how you prove no, I didn't live here at this time, I already paid it with this city, and get the money back for it. So those were the things that I guess I didn't really understand. Also engineer speak is something that I've learned a lot. But when people had questions about like what type of construction is happening in front of my house, I didn't know what an electrical conduit was. I wasn't sure really what they meant when they said they were doing drainage work. It was just so foreign to me. But after hearing it so much, I'm able to explain that to people. Like, yes, there's boxes in the ground that essentially take care of the pedestrian signals and the street lights, and sometimes the power that's going to your house, you know? So those were the types of things that I was like, wow, I have never even thought about that. But now I'm having to understand it to explain it to other people.
Matt: 15:09
Yeah, you're probably one of the people who understands how the city works the best.
Laura: 15:13
I know it's crazy sometimes. But honestly, I still learn new things about it every single day.
Matt: 15:18
And so when you said you helped set up 311, what does that mean beyond, you know, getting these questions? What else was involved in that work of starting this whole thing up?
Laura: 15:26
Yeah. So something that I didn't realize in the beginning is that you actually have to turn on that when people call 311, it will actually come to our 10-digit number. So I had to do that with every single phone carrier in our area, which, as you know, speaking to phone carriers is the most frustrating thing I think I've ever done. I badgered.
Matt: 15:53
Representative. Representative.
Laura: 15:56
Yup. Exactly. I think I called Verizon at least a hundred times to be like, no, you have to make this work. The worst part of it was this doesn't happen every day, right? Somerville, they've been doing it forever. Boston's been doing it forever. There wasn't really reps at these phone companies that actually knew how to turn it on. Come to find out, it's called the Watertown rate center. Essentially, it's just the bounds of Watertown. If you call 311 and it automatically goes to one of our 10-digit numbers, which comes to me and Steph. And it's all based off of location, which can be wonky sometimes. Like there's people in Brighton that call us and they're like, nope, I meant for Boston. And I'm like, I got you, I'll get you right over there. But yeah, the people at the companies themselves didn't know how to do it. So it was me just badgering them over and over again to be like, no, there has to be a way for you to do this. So turn it on now, thank you. But I would have never thought that I would have to put that in place. I don't know why. It was just like, oh yeah, of course, when they call 311, it's just gonna go here, you know? Little frustrating, but once it was turned on, it all worked out, which was good.
Matt: 17:14
So yeah, then setting up the rest, like who else is in the department with you?
Laura: 17:19
Yeah. So we have it's me and my representative, Stephanie Owens. She's great. Everyone loves talking to her. We're a small group right now, but I feel like we are a smaller city, so we don't need to be that big. I think eventually we'll look into getting another representative, but that comes with budget and time, obviously. But it is nice because people get to know us when they call in. They recognize us and they're like, oh, hey, Stephanie. Like, we have this condominium that we talk to all the time, and she's just the best. We got to know her during the Republic strike because they were having issues getting their dumpster picked up, which I think everyone was at that point. But now I feel like I could call her for anything if I needed to, and she would always answer us and respond. So we're a small but mighty group, but I kind of like it like that. I feel like it's more personable and people are really getting to know us.
Matt: 18:19
Yeah. And how many calls are you getting in a typical day?
Laura: 18:23
So I would say our typical day is about 60 to 80, depending on the day of the week. Monday is our highest volume, I would say. By Friday, it kind of slows down. But for example, this past week, after the storm, Tuesday, we got 130 calls. During the strike, our normal was 150 a day. So it kind of differs, but I would say about 60 to 80 is the normal regular volume.
Matt: 18:52
Gotcha. Is that a lot of repeat or is that a lot of different people?
Laura: 18:56
We have our frequent flyers, that's for sure. But a lot of the time it is just different people calling in. And I, one thing I say is the strike was tough, yes, but it honestly was 311's best PR. Like, hey, call us. We're getting you on a list. Your trash is gonna get picked up. It showed people, yes, we actually exist. Utilize us when you need to. And I think our call volume has really picked up since then.
Matt: 19:26
Is there any other big success moments in these past couple of years?
Laura: 19:29
I would say this past storm. This was the first time we had actual snow in what, like 11 years?
Matt: 19:37
I have a nine-year-old son. And it's like, I think this is his first real snow day. Like he's had ice days off of school, but like this is his first real snow day I think.
Laura: 19:46
So I think it was nice that we were there. There was someone for them to call, right? If they called DPW during snow operations, they're not getting someone on the phone. Everyone is out plowing or salting, sanding, moving snow, whatever it may be. This, I think, was a good way for people to say, hey, our street may need to be redone or widened or whatever it may be. I was getting that to the right admin who was working with the snow operations team. It was definitely a good testament. We can do this. It doesn't have to be all on you guys. We can organize it, get it to you, and kind of work from there. So I think that was another big success that we had as well. I will say the strike was the longest one, I feel. It felt like it lasted forever. But, I was proud of the work that we did during that. I really was. And people were upset, but honestly, they were really nice. They were like, we know.
Matt: 20:49
You were the middle person.
Laura: 20:50
Exactly. And they were like, we know it's not you. It happened again. Put us on the list. Thank you. And I was like, if it's not today, we're doing cleanup Saturday. One thing I always, I'm not gonna lie to make the answer seem better, right? I'm not gonna be like, oh yeah, you're gonna get that picked up in an hour. No, at that point I was like, it could happen at the end of today. It could be Saturday when we're doing cleanup, and it was on a Tuesday. But I'd rather be up front and maybe them be a little upset then, but they actually know what the set expectation is as well. Because unfortunately, the answer isn't always great every time, but I'm gonna always give the hard truth if I have to.
Matt: 21:32
Yeah. What are your top three most frequent asked questions?
Laura: 21:37
The first one is missed trash pickup.
Matt: 21:39
Saying, oh my trash didn't get picked up. When is it gonna get picked up?
Laura: 21:43
Exactly. And with that, we work directly with the Republic supervisor. We send it to them directly. He calls it out to the truck, and then they go ahead and pick it up. Unfortunately, it does happen more often. A lot of the times it's a car in the way and they don't see. It's blocking it or it's too close to a car. I did learn that Republic workers, if they hit a car, I believe they automatically lose their job, whether it was their fault or not. So they won't risk it. Fair enough.
Matt: 22:14
Yeah. Sure.
Laura: 22:16
Yeah. But that's definitely our number one, I would say, is missed trash. Our second one, I would say, is when it's elections time, just walking them through. Do I have everything set up? Where do I go to vote? How do I do vote by mail? Can I come for early vote in person? We get a really high call volume when it comes to election season. And then the third one, I would say, is really just general questions. What time is this meeting? When is this event happening? Those types of things.
Matt: 22:50
Gotcha. How about call or series of calls working on a situation that you've been most proud of working through with somebody?
Laura: 22:58
Yeah. There's been a lot of them, I feel like. Oh, one thing, our city was working through switching everyone to smart meters for their water meter, which unfortunately what came with that is people who may have had estimated reads for two years, maybe three years. And that could mean one of two things. They're either owed a lot of money or they owe a lot of money. So those situations have been really tough for people, obviously, especially if they're on that latter half where they owe an amount of money. Before I started working on water bills with our DPW, we didn't really have a process for if they had that large bill about how we can make it easier for them to actually pay that bill. And we kind of worked together to find a way to make payment plans for these people. I've had a number of them happen, but one of my favorite ones, he's actually a snowbird and he lives in Florida, but owns a home here and obviously doesn't have eyes right on the water meter and what's happening here. Got really upset when he got a large bill, which of course, who wouldn't, right? When you're not expecting it, it can be really shocking. But we worked together to get him on a payment plan. I walked him through even signing the documents, taking a picture and sending it to me so we could get everything set up. And now it's relieving him so he doesn't have that much weight on his shoulders that he has this like dooming large bill that's due in a month. And it split it between four quarters. Yes, he has to pay his normal bill as well, but it just, I could tell the relief. Like I felt the relief from his voice after we finally got it done. And it's those types of things that I'm like, I truly am here to help these people. And that's when I feel it the most. I did everything I could to make sure that we could help you. And yes, you still have to pay it, but we're gonna make it a little easier for you here. That was probably one of my favorite ones. I still talk to him to this day. He'll call me every once in a while.
Matt: 25:14
Nice. Yeah. Any other interesting parts about being almost like the voice of the city?
Laura: 25:21
I will say, so I do our Everbridge messages, which is our emergency messaging system. Any time you're getting that call or text about the snow emergency or when the winter parking ban is starting, that's me. I'm setting that up. I've done it so many times now. It is still terrifying every time I press send to 18,000 people. Every single time I'm like, I hope I did this right. I listen to the recording five times. I look at the wording five, probably more than five times. I make Tyler look at it too. This is right, right? But every time my heart skips a beat. Because obviously it's so important when we're sending a message through that system, it's going to everyone. It is so nerve-wracking every single time. I love doing it. I will do it for as long as I can, but I really think I almost have a panic attack every time.
Matt: 26:17
Well, I'm sure everyone reads it and they're like, well, this is such a well put together message.
Laura: 26:22
I hope so.
Matt: 26:24
What's the coolest tidbit about some process or something in the city that you've learned? Is there is a really good fun fact?
Laura: 26:31
I'm a nerd. I love our new phone system. We just recently changed over to what's called Zoom Contact Center. And one cool thing that happens is it narrates our conversation. So if we ever have to go back to something, we can always see it. It generates a summary of the conversation at the end. We also manually put a disposition saying what type of call it is. So I can kind of keep track of that data and make sure, well, I'm getting a lot of calls about this. Maybe we push some communication for that. But one really cool thing that our system actually does is if someone calls in in a different language, it will translate it to English for us right away. We have a translation service that we end up calling to have a real translator on the line.
Matt: 27:22
For that transition.
Laura: 27:24
Exactly. Because that was, I love our translation services. It has worked so well for us the times we get to use it. But sometimes you kind of stumble through those first couple minutes before figuring out, okay, what language do you speak? Let's get a translator on the line and then we can do it. It translates it for you in real time. I think it's Google Translate that it's working, so it might not always be accurate, but it is super helpful that it does that.
Matt: 27:50 Again, get you through that transition. You can't explain tax stuff through Google Translate, but you can figure out what language you need to talk in.
Laura: 27:57
Exactly. Exactly. So that's been really cool.
Matt: 28:00
Nice. And do you want to talk about this text messaging program initiative?
Laura: 28:06
Yes. So with this new phone system comes some new fun things. We're working on a chat bot, not quite there yet, but that will be on the website where you essentially can ask questions to it. If you don't get your answer, it feeds it to me and Steph with the history. So you can talk to a real person.
Matt: 28:25
Representative. Representative.
Laura: 28:27
Exactly. You'll have that option. But the text messaging essentially is just allowing people another avenue of communication. So there will be a new 10-digit phone number that will be rolling out with the text messaging. The end of it says 311. So it makes it a little easier. But essentially, anyone can just text this number. It immediately sends it to me and Steph, and then we can answer any question that you have. If you do text after hours, it will tell you that it's after hours and that you will get a response the next business day as well. But it's really just, like I said, another avenue of communication that will allow people to reach us. I think that's really going to hit the younger generation. I know for myself, I'd much rather text someone than talk to them on the phone. So it's giving those people who would rather text before calling or emailing just a chance to reach out to us in a different way.
Matt: 29:25
Yeah. And when's that rolling out?
Laura: 29:28
It should be February 9th, the week of February 9th.
Matt: 29:32
So it should be out by the time this episode is released.
Laura: 29:33
Yes. Exciting.
Matt: 29:35
Cool. Yeah, I'll get the information for what that number is and put it in the show notes.
Laura: 29:39
Perfect.
Matt: 29:40
Yeah. How about your Watertown connections a little bit now? What do you do outside of your job in Watertown because you're connected to this place in other ways too?
Laura: 29:47
Yeah. I'm a coach for the Watertown High School Cheer. So I'm a volunteer coach there. And a lot of the girls that are juniors and seniors now, I have been coaching since they were in third and fourth grade. I started with the Watertown youth program years ago. And I really have been trying to stay in touch and work with them since. I'm not there all the time anymore, but I definitely like to step in, come competition season in time to help them clean up, get things together, and just stay a part of their lives. Honestly, the kids are awesome. But it's also a good way to just stay a part of the community. Like I go to the Thanksgiving games. I get to hang out with them and see them and be in touch with the principal and the AD over there at the high school. So it's really nice and I love it. It's a good program.
Matt: 30:41
Nice. And so were you a cheerleader growing up?
Laura: 30:44
Yes. Yep. I did, it was Pop Warner back then. It's not called that anymore.
Matt: 30:49
What’s it called now? I only remember Pop Warner.
Laura: 30:52
I don't remember. Yeah. They've changed the name of the leagues. It's like Youth League. Yeah. Not as fun, but I did Pop Warner. I did All-Star cheerleading. I did high school cheerleading. So when I got out, I was like, I still want to be involved in some way. I didn't realize that being a coach is much more terrifying than being a cheerleader just because it's not in your hands anymore. It's just hoping that you've done your best to teach these girls and whoever it is to do something and hope that they can achieve that and be proud of it in the end. I've learned a lot doing it. And I love coaching just because it's not just about, oh, we want to win. We want to be the best, right? It's learning respect. It's learning commitment. It's learning that you need to work together with people and sometimes put differences aside, especially in high school things can get catty, but it's putting those things aside and just all focusing on the same goal and working together. It's been nice. It's cool. I feel like I teach them life lessons, not just how to be a cheerleader.
Matt: 31:56
Nice.
Laura: 31:57
Yeah.
Matt: 31:58
I think we could all use a little more cheering in our life these days, right?
Laura: 32:01
Right .Exactly. Some happiness.
Matt: 32:05
Yeah. Cool. Well, is there anything else that we didn't hit on that, I don't know, you feel like sharing with the community?
Laura: 32:10
No, I feel like we hit on pretty much everything. We're here to help. And if anyone needs anything, even if you don't know where to start, just call us, please. We're always here. And we love helping people. Me and Steph love talking to people. It's our favorite thing to do. We do it all day, every day. So we're just always available. I want people to know that.
Matt: 32:30
Yeah. Well, just wrap up with, so if people want to get in contact with you, I think this is the easiest wrap-up I've ever had. Where should people reach out to you?
Laura: 32:38
Yes. They're gonna call 311. They also can email 311 at watertown-ma.gov as well. And then our 10-digit number is 617-715-8660 if you're outside of Watertown.
Matt: 32:55
And you'll either get me or Stephanie.
Matt: 32:57
Alright, and I'll get that text number to put in the show notes as well.
Laura: 33:01
Perfect.
Matt: 33:02
Yeah. Thanks for sitting down to share your thoughts and stories. And goodbye, listeners.
Laura: 33:07
Thank you.
Speaker: 33:08
Welcome to Watertown 311 Service Center. If you're experiencing an emergency, please hang up and dial 911. Otherwise, we'll kindly remain on the line and one of our representatives will listen to you shortly. Please note that your call may be monitored or recorded for quality assurance purposes. For English, press 1 or continue to hold.
Laura: 33:47
Thank you for calling the city of Watertown. This is Laura speaking. How can I assist you?
Matt: 33:51
Hi, Laura. This is Matt Hanna, who you just spoke with this morning.
Laura: 33:55
Hey Matt. You called 311.
Matt: 33:57
I called 311. Actually called 311, and from my location, it went to Cambridge. So I had to call the other number to get to you.
Laura: 34:04
Oh no. Sorry.
Matt: 34:06
I'm right on the border. It's all right. But I actually got home and I actually had a reason to actually call 311. So if you don't mind, I'm actually going to record this too to get the experience and add it to the episode.
Laura: 34:16
I love it. I think that's awesome. That's perfect.
Matt: 34:19
Okay. They only picked up one of my recycling, not the other one. Classic thing. One of the cars blocked one of our recycling. So we have one recycling container that did not get picked up.
Laura: 34:29
All right. And what is your address? I can get that sent over to Republic Services so we can get that picked up. All right. If you could just make sure to leave your bins out I'll get that sent right over and ask them to pick it up. It will either happen at the end of today or first thing in the morning. So just make sure to keep it out there.
Matt: 34:51
I will do.
Laura: 34:52
Thank you so much. I appreciate that.
Matt: 34:55
All right. Thanks for the extra little bit here.
Laura: 34:58
Thanks. Perfect timing.
Matt: 35:00
I know. All right. Have a good rest of your day.
Laura: 35:03
You too. Thank you so much.
Matt: 35:06
So that's it for my conversation with Laura. Give her a call at 311. Also put the information in the show notes to text, email, call the phone number if you're close to the border like I am or outside of Watertown. And yeah, after that quick 311 call with Laura for me that day, within two hours, they came by and picked up that recycling. So it worked. If you like the podcast and you'd like to hear more episodes, head on over to Little Local Conversations.com. You can find all the episodes, interviews, live podcast recordings, all the different series I have going on. You can sign up for my weekly newsletter to keep up to date. And also there's a support local conversation button in the menu. So if you enjoy the podcast, you've been a fan, you can click on that. You can help support. It's kind of like Patreon, except it's just on my website, makes it easier for me. So if you can help support there, greatly appreciate it. Again, all that is over at Little Local Conversations.com.
Matt: 35:59
Alright, and to wrap up, I want to give a few shout-outs here. First one goes to podcast sponsor, Arsenal Financial. They're a financial planning business here in Watertown that's owned by Doug Orifice. Very committed community member, involved with so many things in the city. Thank you, Doug, for all you do. And his business helps support busy families, small businesses, and people close to retirement. So if you need help in any of those areas, reach out to Doug and his team at arsenalfinancial.com. I also want to give a thank you to the Watertown Cultural Council, who have given me a grant this year to help support the podcast. So I want to give them the appropriate credit, which is, this program is supported in part by a grant from the Watertown Cultural Council, a local agency, which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency. You can find out more about them at watertownculturalcouncil.org and massculturalcouncil.org. And a couple more shout-outs to promotional partners. First one goes to the Watertown Business Coalition, which is a nonprofit organization here in Watertown, and their motto is Community Is Our Business. Find out more about them at Watertown Business Coalition.com. And lastly, Watertown News, which is a Watertown focused online newspaper. It's a great place to keep up to date with everything going on in the city. Check that out at WatertownMANews.com. So that's it. Until next time, take care.
